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4.3 liter ?

1K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  bowtie1Z28 
#1 ·
i have recently found a camaro within my price rang. i just need a motor...is it possible to throw a 4.3 liter v6 from a 92 chevy van into a 70 camaro? HAHA any help or coments would help....thanks
 
#2 ·
well i am sure that it can be done but it will take some work i am not sure if they have a kit for converting it or not. I wouldnt think that they would but they may. If not you will have to do some custom work, and much more.

Also do u have the van already?
And what engine was in the camaro?
 
#3 ·
Yes, it's possible. Not difficult, either.

There are quite a few non-smog performance parts for that motor, so you could use a 500CFM Carter/Edelbrock carb and do away with the computer. You could make some decent power and still get good gas miliage.

This would be an OK deal if you already have the 4.3. If you don't, a 350 might be cheaper.

What are your goals for this swap?
 
#6 ·
Well shoot man, im not even sure how to go about taking trannie, and motor out of a chevy van. popin it into a 70 camaro. let alone trying to upgrade. lol
you know really quick on a scale of 1 to 10 ten being the hardest ...how hard is this project? should i just pay for someone to do it?
 
#7 ·
Many years ago when I splattered a 307 in my '69 chevy truck, and was looking for a quick and easy swap to get it back on the road, I had found a low mileage 4.3 out of a late '80's 1/2 ton truck. I remember talking it over with the salvage yard guy and he said it would be a lot of work. The V6 is about 4.4" shorter than a V8...and it seems like the motor mounts had to be moved back towards the firewall to get it to bolt up. Obviously that will mean fabricating a set of mounts. Of course, you will have to build/modify the exhaust system, and there will be a lot of little things like radiator hoses and such that will need to be changed. The quickest, easiest solution is to find another V8...305's are a dime a dozen around here just because there is no demand for them. Check with some local bone yards or the local papers. Wrecked cars are usually a good place to find an engine because it was probably running when it was wrecked!
 
#8 ·
As bad as I hate to tell you this, because if the 4.3 motor is in an old Astro Van, the sucker is supposed to come out the bottom UNLESS you want to totally take the frontend or what there is of it completely off!!

It isn't like taking the "dog house" off the old early Box Vans and lifting it's shortblock out the side door using a 2x4 stud and short length of chain and then using a long-reach cherry-picker to put the long block back in..

And even then, the motor is still supposed to come out the bottom on the Box Vans b/c the doghouse is spot welded down in about a zillion spots!!!

pdq67
 
#11 ·
Robbm, has the best answer. For the trouble and money you could easily have a decent V8. Sell the van or find someone to trade it to. Does the Camaro have any of the running gear? Meaning is the motor bad or missing? If the motor and trans are out of the car, you will have to think about things like brackets, mounts, accesories. You really need to do some home work before you make any plans. On a scal of 1-10 for a first timer it is a 15. That is not the kind of job a beginer should even think about tackling, there are just too many places to make mistakes or to get in over your head and not even want to bother finishing. Then you will end up with a hacked up mini van that won't be worth anything and a Camaro in the same condition. You did the right thing by coming here to get some advice. Just make sure you take the advice you get into consideration. Find a local shop or guy that knows his stuff and see if he will let you trade the mini van for an engine and install. As mentioned above 305's are a dime a dozen and 350's really aren't that much more.
 
#12 ·
I'd say leave the engine in the van, use that as your daily driver so that while the Camaro is apart you have a driveable car (to get to and from work so you can pay for Camaro parts). :D
 
#13 ·
I rebuilt my Astro with heads from an older 3.8 (before vortecs were available) and Chevy makes a roller cam that specs out to the same as the old L79. It wasn't worth squat on the computer, but it would burn the hides off of that 4000 pound van for as long as I stayed in it. Still, when you consider how tough it was to drop the subassembly, it might be better to go V8. HTH
 
#15 ·
MyBoTy said it right b/c even though the 4.3 is a very good six, it IS A REAL HASSLE getting it out of the Van.

If the little bugger was already laying on the ground at a shop or salvage yard I would say go for it BUT I sure wouldn't want to even think about pulling it out of a Van..

I guess if I had a tall enough tree so that I could undo the front engine ***'y mounting S/F, then fasten a long chain to both ends of the front bumper and pull her straight up until she was standing up on her back bumper while pulling the S/F and engine/trans. ***'y out, I would do it????

Either that or a modern, four body side point, muffler shop, four post, open centered lift to raise the Van up off all four wheels high enough until the S/F cradle could slide out??

For the life of me, I don't see why GM didn't put it in the Carmaro in the first place???? But what do I know.....

pdq67
 
#16 ·
I did an R & R on a 4.3 in an 89' Astro van I owned about 4 years ago and it wasn't that bad at all, took the weekend to do it. Comes out right throught the front pretty easy after you take out the removable core supportand remove all of the accesories from the front of the motor. I also remember having to remve the intake manifold in order to get the cherry picker as close to the block as possible.

Even though it can be done fairly easy, I would agree with the others...sell it or trade it and by a 350. You'll be much happier in the end as you will quickly tire of the lack of umph from the 4.3!
 
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