so i have this 88 chevy 1500 with a good 4.3 angine in it and i was thinking i might use it in a 3rd gen project. im thinking of a twin turbo 4.3 firebird. my question is does the 4.3 bolt up to the v8 or v6 t-5? i can pick up a late 80's v6 fbody for around 500, i see them all the time for cheap around here. i wanted to grab a v6 manual bird and throw the engine in with some turbos off a diesel truck. i dont want to go all out on the project, just want something that really isnt seen much in my area and i can get the turbos for really cheap also. anyone ever done this before? BTW the truck has a t-5 in it as well and im guessing that will swap over too?

 

The 4.3 is a 350 with two cylinders lopped off. It will bolt up to the V8 tranny. No reason you couldn't use the truck's tranny (if its a 700 R4).

 

Yo man! Why are you going to take my idea like that? I wanted to do the same thing. I have a 4.3 in my Blazer. I researched it for a while and found out that it will all mate up. You'll have to re-position the motor mount locations. Make sure you swap the ECM and everything else. Although, I've heard that some 350 ECMs will work with 262s.

I'm not sure if you have 4WD, but someone cautioned me that the oil pan could be an issue. This topic has been posted here before. Search around a little. I posted a couple of threads on it a few months ago. Good luck.

 

if you're wanting to do it to be different, go for it! i'm sure you know that you'll be doing the same work as putting a V8 in the car but you'll still have a V6. i would recommend buying a car with a 5.0 in it and pulling it to put the 4.3 in. seriously, it'll be easier in this case to go from a V8 to the 4.3 than a V6 f-body to a 4.3.

also, diesel turbos won't do much for you on a gasoline engine. they are not designed for the rpms that gasonline engines run. you should check into a turbo or couple of turbos that are made for gasoline engines.

 

no 4.3 from a gas engine?....i would think you would use that instead

 

thanks for the info guys. no i dont have 4wd. the truck has a t-5 in it, im guessing that will swap over to the bird also. lol im actually in need of a head gasket in the 4.3, started smoking last night so i have to pull the engine anyways. i figured it would be some different to have a turbo 4.3 rather then a 5.0 or common 350....i mean if the 3.8 turbo TA can run 13s, what will a twin turbo 4.3 run? my whole main reasoning for the 4.3 is that there will be plenty of room to run the plumming to the turbos. ive seen turboed 8 cylinders and all the pipes are stuffed in there oddly. it should be a fun project to tackle. ill prob. sell the project i have now to start this one. kinda stinks because its taken me 5 years to build and its 85% done......

oh as for swapping over the computer with the engine, id rather ditch the TBI and just throw a carb on there. i mean its all programmed for truck specs anyways so i might as well. get some more power from a card then the restrictive TBI anyways

another thing about the turbos, ive been reading a little on them and a lot of guys are taking the t10's? from the pickup trucks. they said the diesel turbos work well. im not sure what the difference is. i have no idea about turbos, this will be my 1st turbo project. im thinking of the diesel engines run lower rpms then gas and the turbos are designed for low rmps, then at higher rpms they would throw more power since they are designed to throw sufficent power at low rpms. or maybe they will explode?

 

Yeah, I'd bet a properly tuned turbo 4.3 setup should be able to get close to, if not touch 12s. If you dump a bunch of loot into it, who knows what it can do?

I'd stick with the TBI setup with an ECM. I think it would perform better all around and be a lot better for modding.

I can't help you with the diesel turbo issue. I'd check out the Syclone and Typhoon setups and work with them. That's what my plan is / was.

 

If my memory is correct and that engine is from a C1500 it will have an NV3500 trans behind it- I don't think GM ever put the T5 in the fullsize trucks. Some guys (like the guy who works at the machine shop I use) use it behind a V8 in an S10 swap but it's not a good tranny for dragging, tends to bend shift rails inside when you powershift it.

 

ill prob use a 700 then. they are so dirt cheep to pickup now. they car i buy for the project will prob have one in it anyways. i dont care either way 700 or t-5 is fine with me. im not going to start this untill im done with school anyways because of the time. between school, work and a child i just cant fit the time in. plus i have 2 other projects to tend to before i start a new one. i think ill end up selling the GTA project i have if anyone is intrested. i cant stop my cmaro project though, over 11k deep already

as for the tbi vs carb, to me there is no question. id rather the carb anyday especialy over a truck tuned tbi setup. i cant see spending the money for ecu tuning to produce power when i can just buy a simple carb setup and be done with it. not to mention i love how the classic card setup looks and i LOVE the stench of gas too . to me its just more of a muscle thing. another great thing about carbs is there are no wires to run. i think it would just be all around cleaner and cheaper to go carbed