Freshening up a '96 4.3L CSFI Engine
 

Hello everyone,

I'm currently doing a bit of body work on the front end of my '96 S-10 Blazer LT and I figured that while I have the engine exposed, I would take the time to freshen it up. I have a short list of some things that I want to do, but I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions. It is sitting around 150k on the odometer, and in the four years that I have owned it, it feels like it is losing power.

The engine is fully stock. I have owned the vehicle for 4 years and have put on 60k out of the 150k miles on it. Engine doesn't knock and I have never heard noise from the lifters. Oil is changed often.

Here are the mods that I am currently planning on installing:
*Throttle Blade Mod
*e-fan out of a '00+ Dodge Intrepid
*MPFI Conversion
*Cold Air Intake (shielded)
*2.5" exhaust with High-flow Cat
*Ceramic headers (if there is still room in the budget)

While I am at it, I want to replace a few stock parts as well:
*water pump
*timing belt
*spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor
*various hoses that are getting brittle and disintegrating

Is there anything else that I should add to the list or check out while I am at it? Anything that I should remove? I'm not overly concerned with cost as I have another vehicle that I use as my daily driver. I can let the project sit for a little while as I save up some more money. My goal though is to try to keep it under $2-3k if possible. I don't want to do a V8 conversion. I just want to freshen up my current engine some.

Thanks in advance for your time and input.

I'm also planning to upgrade to mpfi. Mine has 125k miles, I feel like I'd be pushing my luck if I don't replace the lower intake manifold gasket. There won't be a better time and they can cause real tragedy when they fail.

After thats all done get a computer flash done. Unleashes everything the intake headers are supposed to do. Plus more if you want. I have the same setup as you`ll have and love it. Guestimating 220- 230 HP now. Also had the security deleted. one of the best upgrades i`ve done. www.pcmforless.com

Did you just send in your PCM? I'm hoping to find a place to get mine Dyno tested and tuned. Not sure if there is anything near me though. I live in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota. Once my build gets closer to being done I was going to start hitting up local car groups to see if anyone has a recommendation in my area.

Sent it in.

Honestly with the list of things you are doing you can just tell PCMforless what you have done and what you are hoping to gain and they have done enough of them that they will give you everything you want. I wouldn't spend the money on an actual dyno tune unless you are going all out with a turbo or supercharger. Even if you would dyno it I bet you wouldn't see more than 5 or 10 HP additional at most and the cost of that compared to a simple PCMforless tune just isn't worth it if you ask me.

I would like to get a Wynjammer some day, but that definitely wont be during this build. Thanks for the input.