i may be getting a 95 blazer with a 4.3l in it and i know now im going to want more power because ive already drove it.. ive heard that the 4.3's are fairly easy to swap over for a v8 but what are my other options? are their many aftermarket parts avaliable for the 4.3's? what about a cam, and headers? will a mildly built v6 be hard on gas? which would be the easiest to do? v8 swap or mild built v6?

anyone up for a good discussion?

 

I think all the answers will make your brain explode... big time but seriously

The 4.3 is actually a fairly thirsty engine and gets marginally better than a v8

Now how much money do you want to spend?

Build 1:
Build the 4.3
You replace everything and rebuild it ground up and throw a cold air intake and put a little bigger cam and some better heads...
I read that you can easily make up to 300 hp if you wanted to
Price depends where you shop....

Build 2:
You buy a used v8 and do the same thing...
You will be able to get away with doing less modifications to the engine and having more power, but you will have to spend some dough to fit the v8 in there

Cost
Build 1 > Build 2
but build 2 would be "upgradable" and more future proof if you wanted to continuously add more power, because once you replace the v6's components and max it out... you will want more and the only things to help are FI and juice...

 

im leaning towards the 4.3 im not that mechanically gifted. i was thinking maybe a cam, some port and polish, and headers for it? id like to try and keep my gas mileage at 18+..

 

You might have problems beginning with the 4.3 then.. LOL, but seriously depending on the build of the v8 you could get 22+, the new ls7 gets the corvette 28 mpg.... granted its a different power to weight ratio and its reasonible compression...

I would do this. Make a list of the parts you want to buy for your 4.3 and then look and see if you can get a v8, like the lt1 for sale for the same price. It might be beneficial to weigh both options... Just incase you go big later, then you dont have a grand invested into your 4.3 for nothing

 

Your limitations with a 95 are going to be in the ECU. 95 was the bastard year of ECU's and is unsupported in terms of tuning if you have the OBD1.5 setup. That limits your options for swaps as well unless you go carb'd with a stand alone transmission controller ($$).