My Beast (4x4 Suburban) - Page 12 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

oil pan 4 · 01-01-2013, 01:21 AM

What engine does the 83 blazer have?

Sporty Modder · 01-01-2013, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

What engine does the 83 blazer have?

It has a giant hole where the engine should be... But 3.08 gears, a 4spd man trans, and only 4000# with a 350 engine, vs 5500#$for the sub.
Thinking of putting a 350 in it and a 4bt into the sub.

oil pan 4 · 01-01-2013, 03:53 PM

BT4 swaps are fairly difficult. The engine its self is pretty pricey.
A BT4 swap breaks down as being far more expensive, way more complex for a slight fuel economy gain over a chevy diesel swap.
I have seen one BT4 swap into a 92 or newer suburban over on diesel place and the guy never posted any fuel economy numbers and I got the feeling he wasn't real happy with the end product.
You could always do a duramax swap, cost would be close to the BT4 but the duramax will bolt up to the transmission, motor mount adaptors can be bought off the shelf at a number of retailers.

Sporty Modder · 01-01-2013, 07:25 PM

Thanks for the info Oilpan, my concern is weight, do you know haw much a duramax weighs? I only have a 1/2 ton chassis, from what I understand the differance between the 1/2 and 3/4 ton subs is axles brakes, and springs. Frame/body wise they are the same.
My father inlaw just promised me a 350 engine for the blazer,just need to swap it in.

oil pan 4 · 01-02-2013, 12:41 AM

The 6.2 and 6.5 only weigh marginaly more than the SBC, in between the weight of an SBC and BBC.
The Duramax has aluminum heads so I don't think it out weighs the BBC or 6.2/6.5L by much.

Even if it weighs 100 to 200 pounds more it wont effect the front end much, when I took the batteries out of the front the weight reduction had nearly no effect.

The only diesel engine that I know of thats massivly heavier than a V8 gas engine is the 5.9L cummins weighing in at 1100 pounds.
EDIT: The ford IH 7.3 and 6.9 are close to the 1000 pound range too.

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr · 01-02-2013, 03:01 AM

If I remember correctly, the 4BT weights some 700 to 800 pounds, which is actually still reasonable considering its mileage benefits in a Suburban or a Blazer, and it doesn't feel underpowered at all. Other good options for a Diesel repowering could be the Isuzu 4BD1-T formerly used in the NPR or the Hino W04C-T from some Hino cabover.