So I just bought a 89 blazer 4.3l v6 with 90k miles on it, few of my buddies told me to get a throttle body spacer and a k&n filter, anyone have any suggestions on how I can do some small stuff to start out and get this thing some more pep?

 

I agree with the K&N air filter but not on the spacer. Do a search on this forum and most are negative regarding the spacer. I have an 89 blazer and I can vouch for the K&N air filter. Depending on budget/time constraints a set of headers and freeflowing exhaust would be the most bang for the buck. For me though I am happy with the stock set up.

 

ive got an throttle body spacer it gave me the thrust i wanted on my 91 4dr 4.3 but not the mpg i wanted go with the exhaust i going to be adding exhaust as well

 

*Moving to Performance & Brainstorming*

 

I have a buddy that i helped install a throttle body spacer on his blazer, and he's had it for about 3 months now and thinks that it wasn't worth it. but would definitely hit up the K&N, you should be able to feel a decent difference instantly.

 

Once again, here comes some clarification on the topic of Throttle Body Spacers. I think that Swart has explained this in about 20 different threads if only the search button would get used. IF your 89 Blazer is a TBI motor which I am assuming it is, then youshould see some small Torque and mpg increase. As for the K&N filter, if you just get a panel drop-in filter then yes that will help a tad as well. However if you get a K&N that is open to the underhood environment, then you will see performance decrease rather than increase.

Throttle Body Spacers only make a positive difference on TBI or Carb motors only.

 

The last statement isn't entirely true. A spacer can help in a vehicle with a relatively high RPM at the torque peak. Increased intake runner length lowers the RPM at which peak torque occurs at the expense of high RPM power.

As I have said in other posts on this subject, I had good results using spacers on my old '94 3.5L Intrepid (sequential port fuel injection). I designed them and had them made at a fraction of the cost of what the big name places charge.

With the 4.3L engine (pick any one of them), they already has a very low peak torque RPM. To move this peak closer to idle would not really gain you much with the setup of the rest of the drivetrain (torque converter lock up RPM, gear ratios, etc). You really have to know where you are starting from to know if a spacer will be beneficial.

 

Alright, so I guess no on the spacer, now K&N just the filter or CAI?

 

i've heard that flipping the intake pan frees up some HP. i did that about 150 miles after installing a used super turbo (already broken in) and flipping the pan changed my exhaust note a little bit and i also get a 1 mpg increase now.

 

Something worth looking into is a throttle body off a big block chevy 454. The butterfly valves have a 2" radias compared to 1 5/8 on the stock 4.3L. I installed one of these on my 91 S10 and there is a noticable difference. The only downside is you have to take you throttle bracket off the 4.3 throttle body and may have to splice some wires for the sensors. other than that I would recomend it. This is cheaper than buying a new 600cfm throttle body injection from Summit for $500.