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4.3L Vortec rebuild kit

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TurboSlacker

SINISTR
Joined
May 29, 2001
Messages
1,139
I have a 96 Blazer with the 4.3L "W" engine. It has 150k miles as is still running strong. But I'm planning for a rebuild in the future.

Any recommendations on a total rebuilt kit ?
Other high performance parts to consider while doing the rebuild ?
Should I consider a new or rebuilt crate engine instead ?
 
It depends. Since this is your daily driver Im guessing you really arent after a huge power increase?..

Most 4.3s that Ive delt with have died due to oiling issues so when I rebuild them I throw in a Melling Z28 oil pump, HD pump drive shaft with steel sleave, and shim the bypass thats in the block with a 1/16" washer. Other than that I usually just do an over bore of .030" to clean up the bores since most later model engines will have a decent amount of ridge in the cylinders due to ring wear and pistons are available for +.030 just about anywhere.

A good hot tanking of the block and some new cast pistons (or hyper if you want to spend the money) as well as new bearings/rings/timing chain and your good to go for the short block.

The heads are pretty much no brainers too. The guides tend to wear so have them checked when you have the valve job done as most if not all late model gm engines with 100+k will have sloppy valve guides. A three angle valve job, new valve seals/guides, and hot tanking is about all that is required here. If you want to spend some time on them with a die grinder for a little bit of extra hp then clean the bowl up behind the valve seat area and blend it into the port. The 96 and up heads are good heads (for stockers) untouched but a couple of hours work will yield some mildly better flowing ports that wont hose up the stock ECM calibration. Just keep in mind that you dont really need to hog them out just blend the rough casting.

HTH
 
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