229 v6

[81_malibuclassic]

I came across a old shop closing and got some parts for my malibu I have the 4.3 marine cam and performer intake and my engine seems to rev higher and has low miles 67000 runs great with the Quadrajet I put on with my adapter plate, in theory if I am making higher rpm’s than a 350 I could put a 400 power glide behind the motor and have a higher top speed with less torque. Similar to the turbo 4 cylinder Hondas that outrun v8s while being a small motor revving high and having good gearing. Does anyone see anything wrong with what I am saying? other than the people that say the 229 is crap, this should work if not please point out the issues. And no I don’t want reccomendations for a new motor I get those a lot

 

[ck80]

I came across a old shop closing and got some parts for my malibu I have the 4.3 marine cam and performer intake and my engine seems to rev higher and has low miles 67000 runs great with the Quadrajet I put on with my adapter plate, in theory if I am making higher rpm’s than a 350 I could put a 400 power glide behind the motor and have a higher top speed with less torque. Similar to the turbo 4 cylinder Hondas that outrun v8s while being a small motor revving high and having good gearing. Does anyone see anything wrong with what I am saying? other than the people that say the 229 is crap, this should work if not please point out the issues. And no I don’t want reccomendations for a new motor I get those a lot

Whelp... you've got some parts there, but, if I were going all out on a 229 I might take a slightly different tack.

As it stands there's heads with 1.72" and 1 84" intakes. But 4.3L heads fit, probably the biggest intake port heads you're going to find for that motor are likely 1996-up 4.3L vortec heads with 1.94" ports. You can mill them down to have a decent compression ratio but fit the 2.29, maybe consider flattop pistons, then get a edelbrock vortec v6 carb intake and slap a 500cfm carb on, or, go with a qjet.

I'm not sure about that marine cam being direct fit, not everything 4.3 fits into a 229. There were both even fire and odd fire 4.3s, so, make sure you have stuff from the right one.

Depending what mixmash of parts you ho with, some early years, 1986 for sure, 4.3s had from the factory tubular Exhaust manifolds instead of cast, and they fit the 229s fine as well. Better flowing than cast, functionally they're like shorty headers at a fraction of long tube cost if you can even find some.

It'd be a unique build, but, I dont see you taking down turbo v8s with a naturally aspirated 229. Maybe a bone stock 305 you could outrun.

 

[81_malibuclassic]

Whelp... you've got some parts there, but, if I were going all out on a 229 I might take a slightly different tack.

As it stands there's heads with 1.72" and 1 84" intakes. But 4.3L heads fit, probably the biggest intake port heads you're going to find for that motor are likely 1996-up 4.3L vortec heads with 1.94" ports. You can mill them down to have a decent compression ratio but fit the 2.29, maybe consider flattop pistons, then get a edelbrock vortec v6 carb intake and slap a 500cfm carb on, or, go with a qjet.

I'm not sure about that marine cam being direct fit, not everything 4.3 fits into a 229. There were both even fire and odd fire 4.3s, so, make sure you have stuff from the right one.

Depending what mixmash of parts you ho with, some early years, 1986 for sure, 4.3s had from the factory tubular Exhaust manifolds instead of cast, and they fit the 229s fine as well. Better flowing than cast, functionally they're like shorty headers at a fraction of long tube cost if you can even find some.

It'd be a unique build, but, I dont see you taking down turbo v8s with a naturally aspirated 229. Maybe a bone stock 305 you could outrun.

You say I probably won’t be taking down 350s or anything with more power than a 305 what about the manifolds and turbo from the 3.8 turbo gnx if I were to find some would that be realistically possible or not?

 

[ck80]

You say I probably won’t be taking down 350s or anything with more power than a 305 what about the manifolds and turbo from the 3.8 turbo gnx if I were to find some would that be realistically possible or not?

Not at all.

The buick was a 231ci based on the old buick 350 architecture. In short, they will never fit a 229 chevy v6 based on a 305 architecture.

They both measure 3.8L, but, so did engines by other manufacturers.

Completely different engines in short, all the way to the transmission bellhousing pattern.

 

[Wageslave]

You might be able to build up a turbo setup based off 4.3 platform parts and a downsized turbo, but without proper fueling your results could be anything from a slightly noisier turd to something that goes fast and windows the block in a week.

At minimum you would need a 3.8 draw through carb but aftermarket fuel injection with a wideband O2 sensor would be much easier to tune.

 

[bracketchev1221]

I would not use a powerglide in any street car looking for performance. Without a good converter, the powerglide is just to get from point a to point b. A race powerglide setup and a street powerglide are complete opposites. You want the most number of gears you can get for torque multiplication to get the car moving.

 

[ck80]

You might be able to build up a turbo setup based off 4.3 platform parts and a downsized turbo, but without proper fueling your results could be anything from a slightly noisier turd to something that goes fast and windows the block in a week.

At minimum you would need a 3.8 draw through carb but aftermarket fuel injection with a wideband O2 sensor would be much easier to tune.

If anything 4.3 heads using a syclone/typhoon parts would be the way to go... but also very expensive, and, so much simpler to just drop said 4.3 engine in instead of using the 229 shortblock