4.3L V6

Can anyone tell me if the 350 v8 pistons will work in the 262 V6? I understand that the rods are not interchangeable, but th eBore, stroke, rod length, deck height, etc, are all the same. There is a real shortage of parts avialable, and I can find lots of pistons fairly cheap for the 350. any one tried this, or know if it will work?
Thanks! <img src="graemlins/drunk.gif" border="0" alt="[drunk]" />


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Yes,There the same.

I'm assuming it's a camaro.

just built one for my daughters s-10, 350 flat tops left over from a customers 250 nitrous explosion, the cam bearings are also small block-1, but the install sequence is different. the mains are also 350-1, valve train is 350,rear seal front seal etc,all 350. rod bearings are unique to the 4.3, also on the 4.3 you have to know if you have a (T) Tonawanda, or a (R) romulus, motor the internals are slightly different, balance is different, cam bearing sequence is different.

will a distributor from a 3.8 [229 cu] v6 work in a 4.3 v6

Thanks!!!! Yo saved me a lot of headaches!

I know this is an old post but this is for those who are researching this subject.

No the the 229 is not an even fire distributor which the 4.3 needs because of the crank design differences. It will fit but you will never get the timing sequence right.
You can make a correct distributor by getting the star reluctor from an inline 6 HEI distributor and put it in a V8 HEI distributor. You will need to replace the V8 pickup coil magnet with the even spaced six point magnet from a 4.3L v6 (NAPA has them buy the 4.3 HEI pickup coil for the 4.3 85 Chev truck with the carb). You will also need to get a weight and spring kit to rework the advance also.

You can also use a Chevy HEI distributor housing and bolt in a pickup coil for a even fire 231 buick V6 along with module. Then use the rest of the basic HEI stuff and there it is.

Actually no. The V8 reluctor has 8 points and you will need an even fire reluctor which has 6 points. You would still have to use the star reluctor from the even fire Buick dist also. A 3 point reluctor from a Buick odd fire can be used if it is the correct one. Make sure the points on the reluctor are evenly spaced, not always the case. The advance curve will be wrong so an HEI spring kit and weights will be needed. The V8 4 pin module is the correct one to use. Most V6 Buick even fire modules were 5 pin with a knock sensor.

I said use the rest of the basic hei stuff from the V6 and there it is. There`s the same info on several sites that show how this is done.

i think the rods can be re-used IF they are milled down (not sure if that is the right term)/ made narrower slightly at the large end?

4.3 rod journals are larger than a SBC. Since the 4.3 crank has "slip disc" rod journals is the reason. GM engineers knew the slip disc style used to make it a even fire engine would also cause considerable weakness in the journal so they made them larger to compensate for it somewhat.

UPDATE: 4.3 rods CANNOT be used in in 8 cylinder applications and vice-versa----because of that rod journal difference.


v-8 rods CAN be used in the 200 and 229 (3.3, 3.8) 6 cyl engines if you perform the milling/narrowing procedure.