What do i need to do to insure my Monte with 153K will last?

[Blake442]

That's not that long.

Drive it, maintain it, and you'll be fine.

 

[phaZe]

I got over 200k out of my Buick 231 while it was a pizza delivery car, and people used to say those engines wouldn't last more than 100k. The 4.3 is a vastly superior engine to the 3.8 in terms of internals for longevity with minimal maintenance, so I think it will do just fine. The oil pump in the Chevy is better than the Buick, so I don't think 200k will be an issue if you take care of it. Remember that half of the battle of getting a car to last is the design, but half is also maintenance. That's why I have 311,000 miles on my Nissan. Yes, it gets regular oil changes, but the drivetrain and wiring is also cleaned and leaks are fixed on a regular basis so that little problems don't turn into big ones. Case in point: I have a leaky steering box that takes ATF as it's fluid. I did not repair it for a few years and the detergents in the ATF stripped the grease from the center drag link pitman arm joint and killed it, necessitating a $160 new center drag link. Had I fixed it in time it probably would not have failed.

My 231 is running fine. It has it's occasional problems and actually accelerates pretty quickly on a stock rear end. It's on the 3rd engine, but the 2nd only lasted a few hundred miles before the crankshaft snapped which was a problem with the company that rebuilt it.

It's like with any engine. If you take care of it, it will last for a while.

 

[hujass]

They say the 4.3 is a 350 with 2 cylinders cut off. And we all know how bulletproof the Chevy small block is....300,000 is very realistic with them.

 

[Geesie]

Rust is your biggest enemy. Anything else can easily be replaced from NAPA or a junkyard.

 

[xminnis]

Rust is your biggest enemy. Anything else can easily be replaced from NAPA or a junkyard.

true but not always cheap, i dont have money to pay $800 to replace a cam like my 78 Monte (although 4.3 v6 doesn't even have cams does it?) but something else in the same price range

 

[BrownGP83]

Rust is your biggest enemy. Anything else can easily be replaced from NAPA or a junkyard.

true but not always cheap, i dont have money to pay $800 to replace a cam like my 78 Monte (although 4.3 v6 doesn't even have cams does it?) but something else in the same price range

Yes, a 4.3 V6 has a cam

 

[xminnis]

i heard that they had some kind of hydraulic what-not instead of camshafts

 

[BrownGP83]

i heard that they had some kind of hydraulic what-not instead of camshafts

Hydraulic lifters?

 

[xminnis]

i dont know i just know i specifically asked the guy i bought it from about the cams because of how my 78 got a flat spot on the cam and he said that these engines dont have cams they have hydraulic something, was he BS'ing me?

 

[BrownGP83]

Hydraulic roller lifters? I don't know much about a 4.3 V6, but it does have a camshaft. Anyone else got more info on these engines?