Ive seen one 4300 hand it to a 4x4 4door hemi dodge too. Well it might have been mine and might have been from a 15mph roll and i might have had the t56 in it and might have had some 103 in the tank but Im really not sure.

Truthfully I think the dodge just might not have got on it but if he didnt, that hemi sure screams hard to get to the speed limit.

 

Not mine... first motor last 152K, but I blew the head gasket on it... that was my fault. The second motor has a bad piston ring after 48K on 2nd motor. Dumps oil in the cylinder, and creates a crude smell and bluish (or purplish) cloud of smoke from the exhaust for about 10 seconds. Not to rain on any parades... mine just might be the one bad apple of the bunch.

4.3L V6s back in '86 were rated at 155HP, and made decent torque.

 

I have a 4.3 in a 2000 Reg. Cab Silverado and have 130000 on it and it is still running strong. No smoke, no problems. Pull a trailer with 2 quads all the time. Daily driver too! Very dependable.

 

I just bought an 06 silverado w/ the V6, with auto and 3.23 locker. It runs good(its my daily beat...i mean driver) I plan to go the Hypertech route to squeeze a bit more power out of it...Ive beat some stuff, not much, just a 4 cyl Cavalier, a 4 cyl frontier truck, and a 82 F100 w/ a 360 big block w/ a 4.11 locker. I think its the 3.23 that hurts my truck. But, being my daily driver(meaning i wanted milage) I didnt get the 3.73's.

But, not to get off topic, i too have seen quite a few 4.3's go for over 300K miles. One of my buddies has a 98 S10 with 475K (as of mid december 05) and it was just starting to run a tad rough at high speeds. He says its because one of the valves is starting to mushroom a little...I almost fell over when i saw his odometer. So, no, its not bad by any means.

If i dont blow it up before 2009, then its been stress tested officially and should be posted on the news for the toughest engine ever...

 

To get off topic, have you ever seen a real big-block V-6? I know a guy that had one in a '69 (I think it was, it was '68 to '72, anyway) GMC 3/4 ton. It was 6 cylinders out of the 409 (pre MarkIV) big block. Even had similar valve covers. It was 350 cubic inches. Now that was a V-6.

 

I had a 94 Sonoma 4X4 extended cab that I put 94K on before I sold it in 02. It ran like new and didn't use a drop of oil. The only thing I had to replace on it was the EGR valve, which went out at 90K. The guy that bought it from me had a Ford Ranger with a 3.0 V6 that he was replacing. His truck had 230K on it and was smoking like an SOB.

My beater 92 Grand Caravan with 193K is still running strong, with only the starter replaced since new. It's more about how the vehicle is taken care of than the miles that are on it.