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1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
#635605 September 17th 2013 2:20 pm
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Sometime this winter I will be working on my Dad's 88 G10 cargo van. It currently has a 4.3 V6 and a 4 speed manual transmission. He wants to keep the manual. The V6 is smoking and instead of a rebuild he wants more power.

My first thought was a TBI 350 swap, but I am reading that most people are not happy with the power or mpg of those engines.

My Dad is fine with a carb and he is not looking for alot of power, but enough to pull a trailer with a couple of vintage garden tractors and maybe other things. Probably max of 5-6K.

This van will be mostly midwest flat land driven and probably at less than 65mph.

Right now I am gathering information and then will search out a donar vehicle for the swap. I think I will try to find a similar van with a 350 that runs. That should make most of it swap easily.

Thanks for the help.

Allen

Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635663 September 18th 2013 1:39 am
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Yeah, the TBI leaves a lot to be desired. Multi port injection is much better, but even a carb is better. I had an 88 Chevy Van with a carb, but most of them were TBI by then. Any gen1 small block (or even a big block) will fit in your van. If your van has a spark control computer, you'll have to replace it for the V8 or bypass it if you go with carb and HEI instead of the TBI. I'm not sure when they integrated the transmission to the computer, but I think it was 89 or later, so you should be OK there. If you are getting a donor van, you can take the engine and trans with the driveshaft, so it all fits and works together.


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Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635664 September 18th 2013 1:40 am
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Nevermind my transmission comments. With a 4 speed manual, none of that matters.


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Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635695 September 18th 2013 1:41 pm
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The 4 speed will be staying. It looks like dumping the TBI and using a carb may be simpler. Going to stick with a smallblock. No need for big block power or mileage.

I think we are shooting for about 250hp and 300lbft of torque. That should move it nicely and pull a 5K. It needs to be reliable and road trip friendly. The van will live in Kansas/Oklahoma in the winter and Minnesota in the summer. Going to keep it away from road salt.

So would a stock 350 with a cam/intake/carb make that kind of power. Probably do a new exhaust too.


Suggestions to what donar vehicle I should be looking for? Thinking another van so we can salvage other parts too. He would like some nicer seats and make them swivel. Van has just the front two seats. The back is open.




Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635718 September 18th 2013 8:41 pm
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I think you could go with another 4.3.
Its easy to swap the cam and put a 4 barrel intake with a good qaudrajett carb. Youll get more power and better fuel economy with it than a v8 and itll bolt rite in.


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Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635732 September 18th 2013 10:15 pm
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I had a safari with the vortec 4.3. It was no good for trailers. (It was no good period.) This is a full size van and the 4.3 will move the van empty ok. He needs to have the power to tow a loaded trailer and not have it stressed. We have even considered a 6.5 diesel swap, but that would be alot more involved.




Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635771 September 19th 2013 7:33 am
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A 350 is a pretty decent up grade.
the V/8 will bolt right down where the v/6 was at.
A shorter V/8 fan shroud will be needed.
Stay away from the 305's your v/6 has as much power as they do.
I have a TBI 350 in an 89 GMC van here.After replacing the in tank fuel pump and in line fuel filter.the changes made a BIG difference in how that engine performed and it's fuel economy.
A well tuned 350 can get decent gas milage
The factory 4 speed is a rarely ordered option
Good luck with your project.

.......Wookee


Its a "Van Thing"
A life style you have to LIVE to understand!

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Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
wookee #635778 September 19th 2013 9:24 am
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A v8 will bolt in if you have the right mount to frame brackets for the 8. there is a 4.38" difference in where the mounts need to be. i rounded this to 4.5" and modified my six brackets to get a little extra firewall clearance. you can cut the v6 shroud down by 4.5" to work.



1992 Chevy G20, 110" wheelbase, Mark III conversion, L31/4L80e swap, Express wiring harness.
Re: 1988 G10 4.3 V6 to a 350 swap. Looking for suggestions.
katoranger #635805 September 19th 2013 3:50 pm
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Your best bet is to find a wrecked G series van, so you can steal as many parts as you need. When you take the engine, just leave the engine mount brackets where they are (bolted to the engine). You'll have to move the engine mounts, which bolt to the chassis (buy new ones), but all the holes are there. If you line it up with the trans first, the bolt holes should pretty much line up where they belong. Never use V6 engine mount brackets with a V8 when you have V8 brackets (straight 6 brackets are even more different).

Yes, you cut the radiator shroud, but if you get a donor van, just swap it over with the engine. You may want to take the radiator as well. I'm not sure if a 4.3 has the same heavy duty radiator that my 350 has, plus depending on the year, you have an oil cooler as well as a transmission cooler in the radiator (again, not sure if the 4.3 shares that).

As to the "keep the 4.3" theory, my friend had a G10 with a 4.3. It grenaded when he tried to tow his boat (a little 14 foot runabout). My 350-powered G20 towed his van with the boat still attached back to his house with no issues. We swapped a 350 in his van that weekend.


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