Paying someone else to do a small block swap on a truck that has been good to you as is for 26 years,doesn't sound like the best solution to me. If a person was doing their own work and weren't happy as is,with their 6 cylinder truck heck yea a small block swap would be a great suggestion. But there are a lot of things going to nickle and dime this,if you have to pay someone else. And if you live somewhere with emissions inspections,there's another problem. As for a carbureator for a stone stock 6 put a good reman from a reputable rebuilder like national carbureator on it. There is no since in trying to modify a tired 6 cylinder you'll probably get more problems than solutions
Totally Agree. Only do the sbc swap if you want it done, but otherwise, just keep patching that 6. You'll never kill the internals on that thing. Now, if that 6 does by chance go titz up from like a lack of oil, overheat and crack a head which they are notorious for if it's the integral head, and yes, that'll probably happen but usually where it happens, it doesn't affect anything USUALLY believe it or not. I've pulled several apart with cracked heads in certain spots and it didnt' affect a thing and no leaks, no mayo oil or nothing. But if it goes, THEN YES, I'd do the SBC swap. And reason I say that, it's cheaper to rebuild a 350 or buy a crate 350 than it is to rebuild the 6. No Lie, look up the prices. So then the money saved on the rebuild or crate, that'll help cover your new exhaust and other nickel and dimes.
I had a 64 GMC a long time ago. It came with biggo honkin V6. I had every combo you could think of in that truck, and I never once hit it with a torch or welder, or aftermarket parts as far as crossmembers or mounts etc. EVERYTHING bolted in once I acqured the correct parts. I had I6 in it, several small blocks, 2 big blocks, Granny 4 speed to Muncie M21 to M22 to Th350, Th400. The fantastic part was, swapping from the Muncie 4 speed to the Th350's, I didn't even need to swap the driveshaft. Same driveshaft fit both. I had kits set aside, so like whne the Muncie came out, there went the center hump with the hole cut in it and boot. So then I used the hump with a small hole for the B&M Quicksilver Ratchet shifter cable to go through. Had 2 wiring harnesses that plugged into the firewall, 1 for v8 1 for I6, and with that wiring harness, I kept the correct factory throttle shaft rod from the pedal linkage to the carb. We were crazy back then. We'd borrow each other's engines for the weekend to go run races and try different combos. Sometimes, I'd put the old 230 i6 in to loan my engine to a buddy, or to do a rering and cam swap. We raced our everyday drivers that we drove to work, so if you raced and broke that weekend, you'd better have a back up trans and engine ready to go in or you missed worked Monday. I also had dual exhaust for the I6, so yes, I did have to save 2 sets of exhaust. The small and big block was easy, used the same pipes off the headers for both. I could convert from v8 to i6 in 4 hours and the same going back to v8. You never knew when I showed up at the street races what I'd have in it. All that stayed the same was the Dana 60 with 4.56 and Detroit Locker. I'd be auto trans this weekend, next weekend, back to the M22. I finally broke the M21 and that's when I went with the close ratio M22. Damn, so much fun to drive with about 400 plus horsepower, maybe a bit more, not sure, never dynoed. And that don't sound like much, but were talking in the 80's and it may have been closer to 500hp, no telling. I just know it hauled ass and was hard to keep straight with the locker in the rear end always breaking those 33 inch tires loose. I think my best combo was a SBC with the M22. The big blocks were fun too and won races of course, but for ricky racing around town, breaking tires loose, 2nd and 3 gear chirps etc, the small blocks just seemed more peppy. I'd imaigne a lot of that had to do with the rpm power band and camshaft choice. Of course if you wanted to, you could do the same with a square. Just save all the factory parts you get to make it happen, so you can go back and forth.
