New Here!!!!

[ABCAUTO2]

Sales Manager at large Chicago area salvage yard, and yes we have S-parts. We deal in 1996 and newer Domestic and Foreign used parts. Enough of that!!!
Have a daily driver 97 S10 4wd 2dr and I am looking for some info on a 97 Vortec rebuild. Mostly Highway (Left Lane of course) driven. I have started doing the research on rebuilds and wondered if someone here could point me in the right direction on heads & valves as to whats available as well as cams & springs. Also any tricks for the block and balance shaft. What brand of pistons and rods. I will be adding a cfm throttle valve when the new motor goes in. I am retaining the stock computer and was thinking of adding a chip or perhaps reprogramming this one. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks

[Joker2040]

Welcome!!! I might need to hit you up on some Foreign auto parts.

[ABCAUTO2]

No Problem Drop me and e-mail and I'll see what I can do for ya

[rat]

Welcome to the site.

http://www.raceprovenmotors.com/
They deal primarialy with 4.3 stuff, they might be able to help with getting parts, or doing work if needed.

I would deffinately ask myself the question of weather or not you want to stick with the v6, or if you just want to put a v8 in it. A '96-'98 full size, '96-'02ish full size van 350 is a fairly easy swap, and stock would put out more power and torque than a rebuilt 4.3 with a cam. Just something to consider.

I take it you want to do a rebuild with a performance valve train. The 260ahr is the cam that i have. It is a great highway cam, good fuel economy and torque. Not quite as aggressive as i should have gone though. It sounds like you have a heavy 4x4, so you might want to keep it tame on the cam front. More than .480" of lift requires machining to the guide. The od on the guide as far as the valve spring is concerned is .850", so those will also have to be machined depending on valve spring choce. I run 983-12's, and the retainers and locks to go with them for my cam.
These will physicaly fit in your engine.
Bottom three: http://www.compcams.com/Technical/CurrentCatalog/HTML/124-127.asp
Any of these: http://www.cranecams.com/index.php?show=browseParts&lvl=2&prt=5&Vehicle_Type=Auto&Cylinders=6&Engine_Make=CHEVROLET&Year=2000&Engine_Size=4.3%20L


The ballance shaft you can leave the gear off, and leave the shaft in the block if you chose. I left my ballance shaft all connected when i did by swap.

Pistons and rods, stock will do you for just a cam swap. If you are planning on boosting then you might want to get a forged piston, and better rods. I would probably get new hyperturic pistons and try to stay on the stock rods for a n/a daily 4.3. Maybe bump compression slightly. And ballance the whole rotating assembly.

All '96 up 4.3's have vortec heads. These are the best factory head you can get as far as flow. The ports are baised on the lt1 iron heads. I don't think it is really worth it to go with anything different for cost reasons. You might have them ported and or 2.02/1.6 valves, but this is out of my relm of expertise past that.

As far as the computer is concered, you can tune it yourself, or you can pay it done. Wait4me performance can do it cheep, and i think they have free reflashes. pcmsfor less can do it, as well as other places. Or you can do it yourself, tunercat has the stuff for your '97. I do my own tuning with the tunercat program.

For e-fan you can use a '91-'95ish ford tauraus 3.8L fan. You have to do all the wiring yourself. There are also kits you can buy. Rilth has a real nice write up in the how-to section that can walk you through it.

Edit: I have links for most things i typed, tell me what you are interested and we can go more in depth.

[ABCAUTO2]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I do have couple of specific questions, .30 or .60 over ? Don't know what the blocks will take. Second do you know if anyone has experience with the CFM-TECH throttle valves ?
Also I was thinking that the cam you are running 260AHR is what I am looking for and was considering the K-kit. I have an old Customer who is going to do all the machine work (clean-up,debur block & clean up the heads) but wanted to give him a heads up on anything else he might need to know. Good write-up on the valve spring deal by the way. Also will the later rockers bolt on as I have access to lots O.E used parts
I did see the v-8 conversions but I put on about 500 miles a week and the V-8 would be a bit thirsty for that.

So ideally I am thinking .60 over w/stock rods new pistons and balanced, heads cleaned up with new stock valves late model rockers & new push rods, complete K-kit would cover the timing chain and the rest of the valve train parts.
I can't believe there isn't a replacement intake but I guess a cleaned up port matched stock one would do and then the CFM-TECH throttle valve. Put it in, break it in switch to synthetic oil and then see if there is any help left in the computer. I have access to all the e-fans I want but if there isn't a complete bolt in kit out I'll pass on that.

[rat]

No k-kit for the newer trucks that i know of. You have to buy all the parts seperate. It ends up costing about the same either way. I run a cloyes timing chain myself, it is a roller chain, and is adjustable 0* or +/-2*. I put my cam in strieght up as it already has 4* of advace built in.

As far as the cfm tech blade, why don't you just cut your stocker? Would be a lot cheeper for the same results.

Bore it as little as possible to clean up the walls. The 2ci that you get is not going to make any difference power wise. The cyl walls start to get thin if you bore it too much. .030" should be plenty, and should give good piston selection.

Yep, i was just throwing the v8 comment out there, the final decision is up to you, the 4.3 is a good motor also.

For the rockers question, not exactly is the short answer. The '99 down heads have different theads for the rocker studs(10mm). The '00 up heads have 8mm holes, and no studs, the rockers bolt to the head. So all you have to do is get some '00 up heads and rockers. The heads will bolt right up to your intake and block, and exhaust manifolds. Some sensor locations might be slightly different, but other than that you should be good to go. These heads do have to have the guides cut for the 260ahr like i mentioned.

For intake manifold no bolt ons, but you can adapt the edelbrock 2114 for multiport.

Also, if you have accesss to boat parts the marine 4.3's have a multiport intake manifold that will bolt up to your heads, and require some small things to make it work.

Edit: flexalite should have some bolt on fans. The 60 and 210 or something to that effect? The first is a single fan, the second a dual fan better for what you have planed. They are listed as bolt on for s-10's i think. Little on the pricey side compared to the ford fan, but for ease of instalation it may be worth it.