Swims350
I'm Awesome
The way I see it, is just as you said, a few mods, this and that, money spent it'll equal a stock 350.
WHY? just spend the money and buy a 350 it'll be easy on gas and then the money you would have spent on the 4.3 will make the 350 even better. If you add more hp and torque to the 4.3 it aint gonna be as easy on gas as a stocker. The 350 would have more torque and hp and help get you up to speed better and faster, esp. if you are hauling anything. The 4.3 could or would have to work harder to do the same job which could cost more in gas and wear and tear on the motor, not to mention if the motor is old it aint getting as good of mileage as it could, which would be fixed by a rebuild, so even more money thrown out.
Its like the 305 vs 350 build debate, you can dump money into the 305 and make good power, but all the money you dump into it would make even more power on the 350.
I understand a budget and work with what you got, so...
I would think full tune up and/or rebuild of the 4.3, long tubes, better exhaust system, chip burnt, tbi mods, a different cam, maybe flat tops or something, shaved heads, that would be more CR, better intake maybe or heads? like doing vortec heads instead of stock 4.3. Basically all the things you can do to a 350 to make it better you can do or find for a 4.3 although it's usually alot more to do it on a 4.3 then a more common build 350.
WHY? just spend the money and buy a 350 it'll be easy on gas and then the money you would have spent on the 4.3 will make the 350 even better. If you add more hp and torque to the 4.3 it aint gonna be as easy on gas as a stocker. The 350 would have more torque and hp and help get you up to speed better and faster, esp. if you are hauling anything. The 4.3 could or would have to work harder to do the same job which could cost more in gas and wear and tear on the motor, not to mention if the motor is old it aint getting as good of mileage as it could, which would be fixed by a rebuild, so even more money thrown out.
Its like the 305 vs 350 build debate, you can dump money into the 305 and make good power, but all the money you dump into it would make even more power on the 350.
I understand a budget and work with what you got, so...
I would think full tune up and/or rebuild of the 4.3, long tubes, better exhaust system, chip burnt, tbi mods, a different cam, maybe flat tops or something, shaved heads, that would be more CR, better intake maybe or heads? like doing vortec heads instead of stock 4.3. Basically all the things you can do to a 350 to make it better you can do or find for a 4.3 although it's usually alot more to do it on a 4.3 then a more common build 350.