MALIBU Anyone sway a 4.3 CPI into their G-body?

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Gwarren79

G-Body Guru
Oct 29, 2018
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Safford, AZ
A complete blazer running for 1k, could replace a 229/t200 combo with just a crossmember swap.you gain roller cam, 60 hp, torque and overdrive .



P.S. a 4.3L CPI has more HP/TQ than a 305 V8 as a stock engine
 
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Wageslave

Royal Smart Person
Jan 25, 2017
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I swapped a CPI engine out of a ZR2 in my bonneville for a little while. I did use a marine intake and a carb, as the donor wiring harness was trashed and the black box computer was not HP Tuners friendly.

It ran well enough, but got abysmal mileage behind a 3 speed auto. Most of the G-Body's have super tall highway gears in them, and mine was no exception with 2.41s. As a result, it had to grunt pretty hard to get up to speed and then run over 2100 RPM at 60 MPH. The 4.3 isn't a super rev happy engine anyway and this brought out the worst in it.

If you want to do this, don't bother unless you have the overdrive to go with it. Even then, it will be less than ideal unless you get lower gears for the rear end.

It can work well but you will have to basically replicate an S10 drivetrain from end to end to make it work as a package. At that point, is it really worth it to do when a small block will drop in in a few hours and make better power and roughly the same economy?
 
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1evilregal

Comic Book Super Hero
Apr 23, 2009
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Greensboro, NC
I'm getting everything together to do this exact swap on the Gypsy wagon. in some of my research, I found some talk about a TBI short block with the CPI heads and intake gaining about 20 bhp. luckily, I happen to have an '89 astrovan with a good engine, and stripped out a 99 S10 blazer with a rod knock that I'd picked up for $500... it already gave it's front brakes to the Chief, and rear brakes will be going on something in the near future (not to mention that I sold the front clip, and a few other things I didn't need, and made half my money back:sneaky: )... the blazer looked like a turkey after thanksgiving dinner when it rolled across the scales at the metal scrappers (another $68 return!)
 
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1evilregal

Comic Book Super Hero
Apr 23, 2009
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Greensboro, NC
Why bother, a V-8 wouldn’t be any more difficult
my wagon hasn't seen a pampered life, but with as much rust as it has, and balanced with Regal wagons only being made for 2 years, it's worth bringing back as a daily driver, but not with a full blown restoration (or even half of what Donovan has done to Oldscool). I think the CPI 4.3 with the 4l60 (and the 3.73 rear end I have lying around ) would make a pretty good reliable daily beater... I'm going straight swap, electricals and all, to avoid any of the headaches of carb swaps/program deletes, etc... gotten most of the upgrade stuff together, just need to finish up the OBS truck I picked up, and get my DD straight and pass inspection to get it re-registered...
 
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