1989 s-10 blazer engine

i just bought a 89 blazer with the intention of turning into a decent driver and light off road toy. it has a 4.3l in it with a blown head gasket. i was just wondering if the 4.3 was worth rebuilding or should i go with a different engine v8 maybe?

There are many who have put a tuned port engine(5.0/5.7) out of a camaro/vette and have had success doing it. There is tons of info on the net on how to do this. My advice? Get the 4.3 back in shape and enjoy it. The 4.3 is a strong, very reliable engine that can get these trucks going pretty good on and off road, and its much easier to do.

i think thats what i will do. i just had to get some more information. i did some research and i was just getting some more opinions.

Trying to shoe horn a bigger engine into one of these trucks can be done, but I gotta believe it will be very expensive not to mention frustrating and challenging. I would stick with the 4.3L too.

now i have a second blazer this one is a 86 with a mint body but the engine is shot this one has a 2.8 but it is in better shape than the 4.3 what engine will be the best one in the long run. what ever i do im going to completly rebuild. milling the heads and the whole works. what would the rest of you do

i would buy a 3.1 liter small block some exchange heads and reuse all the parts i could the 2.8 has a weak bottom end i did this same thing on a 2.8 i wired in an electrical fuel fuel pump close to the tank and replaced all fuel and vacuum lines rebuilt carb but reused everything else the exchange heads had oversized valves and with exchange were only 150 but ths was a few years back close to 200hp also i capped and gasketed the the mechanical fuel pump port