S-10 horsepower

[Zgaddis]

I have a 1991 chevy s-10 with the 4.3 v-6 in it and I want to juice up the horsepower on it, I was wondering what would help short of changing engines. any suggestions?
thanks,
Zach

[balls_to_the_wall]

Well what I want to do...(89 S-10 4.3)...is put headers...dual exaust...and a power chip...i believe that would put at least a little extra power it it for me

[eti engineer]

Originally Posted by balls_to_the_wall

Well what I want to do...(89 S-10 4.3)...is put headers...dual exaust...and a power chip...i believe that would put at least a little extra power it it for me

Mine is a 1997, but with the 4.3. I put a gibson catback on it (don't use duals -- they will actually rob some hp), reprogammed the flash memory with Hypertech (your vintage may require a different chip), put the K&N filtercharger with cold dam and a Jacob's Pro-Street ignition, gapping the plugs at .070". After doing that, I needed some rubber as it would just burn the tires. I put Dunlop P245 60 R 15 GT Qualifiers on the stock 7.5 inch rims (they fit with no interference) and not only does it hook up and run now, it holds the corners like it pickups usually don't. I lowered my 0-60 times by almost three seconds and it does the quarter failrly fast, too. I don't remember the exact times.

If you are on a limited budget, you can do these mods over time.

eti engineer

[balls_to_the_wall]

Well...that is something that I will have to remember to keep in mind

[BlazerLT]

Originally Posted by Zgaddis

I have a 1991 chevy s-10 with the 4.3 v-6 in it and I want to juice up the horsepower on it, I was wondering what would help short of changing engines. any suggestions?
thanks,
Zach

Best bang for the buck is an intake and a free flowing muffler.

[daedal.]

Hmm, gotta note these down. I have the same engine.

[Zgaddis]

thank guys that helped out a lot

[martell06]

hypertech tuning makes a chip for 2.8's and 4.3's. it can be found in the jc whitney catalog.

[BlazerLT]

yip, but expect a drop in fuel economy.

[sector95]

Originally Posted by Zgaddis

I have a 1991 chevy s-10 with the 4.3 v-6 in it and I want to juice up the horsepower on it, I was wondering what would help short of changing engines. any suggestions?
thanks,
Zach

Which version of the 4.3L do you have; the TBI or the CPI engine?

My take on spending a load of cash on a "chip": save it for intake, exhaust or ignition upgrades. If all you're looking for is a little more pizzaz for your daily driver, keep the stock chip and buy a decal. If you're heavy into street drags, well then every little bit helps.....Do all the other mods and if you've got a couple-a-hundert bucks just burnin' a hole in yer pocket, have at it.

Read an article a few years ago in Car and Driver about these "performance chips".....very revealing and made good sense.

The aftermarket chips have to meet the same EPA federal emissions standards as the factory chip. Under normal driving conditions the "performance" chip will do nothing more than the factory chip to engine operating parameters: it's not gonna alter the timing or the fuel mixture. If the automakers could increase HP across the board, still meet emissions and provide a good level of reliability and fuel economy with a simple chip change, don't you think they would? But how do the "performance" chips get more HP out of the engine? Because of a "loophole" in the emissions law that allows an engine to provide maximum power under wide open throttle (WOT) conditions without the hinderance of emissions requirements. The thinking is that WOT is considered an "emergency" manuever and in normal driving hardly ever happens. How often do you drive in a WOT condition? This is where your performance chip kicks in and applies a more agressive advance curve and more total advance. The fuel curve is also "sweetened" to provide a richer mixture under these conditions. So you'll get a higher peak HP way up there in the redline region of your engine, not in the normal driving range. Some things the "performance" chip will alter under normal conditions are the shift programing for your automatic (if your vehicle is so equipped). The chip may hold each gear a bit longer to improve acceleration, alter the firmness of the shifts, delay the shift to overdrive and alter how and when the torque converter locks up. This is where you get the "seat of the pants" feeling of increased power. Also, this new found power comes at an additional price; you typically must install a "performance" thermostat (read 160 deg) and you must use a higher octane fuel (typically premium). Not worth the cash, in my book, especially when there are so many other bigger-bang-for-the-buck mods out there.

Again, this is just my 2 cents, my humble opinion...and based on what the guys at Car and Driver had found....

You can get a bit of increase in performance simply by using a 160 deg thermostat in lieu of the factory 195 deg unit. This swap will keep the engine cooler overall and allow the factory chip to provide the maximum advance for your normal driving. One of the things the computer will do is restrict the timing as the engine gets hotter to reduce the probability of detonation...summertime, A/C on and in-traffic driving my temp would run over 210 deg and the truck would run like crap. I did this thermo swap on my 93 S10 (4.3L TBI engine) and the the overall performance was very pleasing considering the the 6 or 7 bucks it cost me.

The TBI motor has an incredibly restrictive intake snorkel that can be modified.....

mike

[balls_to_the_wall]

Hey...I have an 89 4.3L S-10 with the TBI and How exactly do you modify that snorkel Intake? would it be just unhooking it and taking it out right before the air cleaner?...Just Curious...
Thanks

Ryan

[sector95]

Originally Posted by balls_to_the_wall

Hey...I have an 89 4.3L S-10 with the TBI and How exactly do you modify that snorkel Intake? would it be just unhooking it and taking it out right before the air cleaner?...Just Curious...
Thanks

Ryan

I'm not familiar with the '89 engine setup. But here's what I did to my '93.

Where the snorkel mounts to the core support, on my truck, there was a large formed plastic piece that had a resonator chamber.... the rubber flex tube to the air cleaner attatched to this resonator and the opening, the actual hole through which the engine breathed, was about 1 1/2" in diameter (my DR350 dirt bike had a bigger hole in it's airbox than this 3/4 of a 350!). Using a small saw, I carefully cut off the resonator and opened up the end of the intake. I used a spare piece of aluminum, cut to fill the hole, carefully formed to fit and held with RTV sealer and some small screws. The difference in power and throttle response was noticeable and the cost was *FREE*... toss in a K&N filter and I had done a pretty good budget improvement. I don't think I could've done much better dropping 200 bucks on some aftermarket setup (which they didn't make for the TBI engine anyway).

I have seen intake tracks on some of these trucks plugged up with devices designed to mute intake noise (probably part of a federal requirement). They effectively mute intake noise at the cost of providing some major restrictions to air flow and a reduction in HP.

Look at your setup.... see if there is/are any type of restrictions to the flow of air. Simply remove the restriction(s). You may have to get creative and figure a way to replace or repair your modifications...cruise your local Lowes or Home Depot; heating and a/c ducting, pvc pipe etc are all possibilities to use in modifications. We had an '89 S10 with the Iron Duke 4cyl... no hot rod for sure, but pulling the insert from the intake end piece brought out a tiny bit more zip and a bit better throttle response (if you can put Iron Duke, zip and response in one sentence). Total cost; zero, zip, nada as in FREE! You may notice a little more intake roar, especially when you get on it, but generally it sounds pretty cool. If you can, try flipping the lid on your air cleaner... this is an old trick guys did when I was a kid... you now have a 360 deg, semi-open air cleaner, lotsa flow. The down side to this is that you're sucking in 100%, hot, underhood air... but it does sound kinda cool (back in my day cars didn't come with "cold air" intake systems like today).

Hope this helps or at least inspires you.....

Good luck

Mike

[BlazerLT]

Ok, first off, a 160 stat is a way too low for a 4.3L and the 180 is the lowest you would ever want to go. Some 4.3L's will trip the check engine light and in some cases the engine won't go into closed loop. Overall, your fuel economy will suffer and you run the risk of carboning up your engine seeing the computer will keep on dumping in more and more fuel to get the engine to the computer's set temp of 175-200.

That along with the fact that you cannot install them in colder climates.

Stick to a 180 and you will be fine.

[sector95]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

Ok, first off, a 160 stat is a way too low for a 4.3L and the 180 is the lowest you would ever want to go. Some 4.3L's will trip the check engine light and in some cases the engine won't go into closed loop. Overall, your fuel economy will suffer and you run the risk of carboning up your engine seeing the computer will keep on dumping in more and more fuel to get the engine to the computer's set temp of 175-200.

That along with the fact that you cannot install them in colder climates.

Stick to a 180 and you will be fine.

Well okay first off, a 160 deg thermostat *can* work just fine. I had tried a 180 deg in my 93 w/4.3L TBI 5spd and it still ran hot in summertime driving. Tried the 160 deg and no worries... truck ran fine...didn't "carbon up the engine"; didn't send the computer into fits of malfunctions either. I worried it might not pass emissions testing but...TADA! not problems there either (and we use a "road simulator" emissions test).

You *MAY* notice a drop in your heater output especially if you live in the "great white north" but I never noticed any lack of BTU's in the winter. Likewise, if you drive in subzero temps, the 160 deg might not let the engine fully warm and there you'd have some problems like the Blaze man eludes to.

If you live in an area where you get moderate winters, then a 160 deg will work just fine... super cold winters like Chicago (da Bears), extreme northern tier states (oh ya sure) or Canada (eh?) then you can stay with the 180 all year round or do a swap, R&R ing the "summer" 160 deg for a "winter" 180 deg.

Cool...if you'll pardon the pun

Mike

[balls_to_the_wall]

Sector is right...flipping the air cleaner lid upside down and screwing it back on does make it sound pretty cool...I just got out of school, poped the hood on my truck flippend it around and I am pleased witht the sound...