Not something I'd even remotely consider. The V6s had better reps then the V8s because they weren't worked quite so hard. They only came in cars. That being said, I saw many blow-to-pieces at 100K-150K. Note there were three 4.3 liter diesels. The early 4.3 V6, the later 4.3 V6 - and the "mystery" 4.3 V8 that never got released to the public. I think at the last minute, GM decided to use the Isuzu 2.2 diesels instead - that were put into S10 pickups and S10 Blazers.
What pickup would you intentionally install an engine with scarce-parts availability with 165 lbs. of max. torque and be happy with? Also, how would you make it mate to your trans? Adapters?
As I recall - all the diesel 4.3 and 5.7 V8s and 4.3 V6s came with the GM "BOP" bolt-pattern (Buick, Oldsmobile,Pontiac), NOT Chevy/GMC.
Our shop did many conversions - putting gas engines back into diesel trucks and we had to use Oldsmobile gas engines. Chevy engines would not fit.
For cheap - find yourself a 6.2. At least THAT was designed by Detroit Diesel and can hold up very well if not abused. Also has great cheap parts availability. It also has the Chevy GMC common bolt pattern and can easily swap. One of these days I'm going to stick a turbo-6.2 into my 65 Chevelle Malibu. 6.2s are not HD engines, but work great for light trucks or in cars.
After GM settled a huge law-suit for the many awful pre-1981 diesels, they re-engineered the V8 into the DX Goodwrench engine. That engine isn't near as bad as the former ones, but still not near as good as the 6.2 that came out in 1982. But the 6.2 is a Chevy bolt pattern and fit cars and trucks that had 5.7 Olds-patterned engines.
Funny thing now -the DX 350 diesels are sought after - to convert them back into gas engines for racing purposes. That get turned into 450 cubic inch gas-race engines.
It's also funny how history gets rewritten. I was working in a diesel shop when the Oldsmobile diesels came out new. Three guys in my shop owned many - including my boss. In the cold northeast- nothing but headaches and no real fixes for bad engineering. The local Chevy dealer sent many trucks to our shop. And all the diesels were in nothing bigger then 1/2 ton trucks with auto trans and 2WD only - and no trailer towing allowed. Even when babied, they fell apart.
Back to the V6s, a friend of mine got 140K from his car which was pretty good. Except he spent a small fortune keeping it going, especially the fuel injection system.
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