anything with over 400 ft\lbs will twist one. check the s10 forums. people put v8s in those all the time. check this link out where a dude broke a windshield in his:
http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f10/v8...lutions-15530/

I was also thinking it was an s10 truck, which weighs alot less than a blazer. Yeah those two would weigh about the same.

 

I'm in a similar quandry, I have a 95 S10 Blazer with 220k miles on the 4.3 and I'm going V8 I have a complete LT1 which came out of a Z28 but I was thinking of going LSx for all the reasons already given. However I'm doing this on a budget as the Blazer is my dd, and since I already have the LT1 and a speed and performance LT1 accessory drive kit (had this engine in and 83 Malibu) I going to rebuild it and slap it in the truck with the carbed lt1 intake that I had on the Malibu.
So I say you can't go wrong with either setup, I would say go with what your budget can handle and what parts you already have.

 

put a standard small block in it, all the accessories bolt up. or go 5.3 ls motor on the cheap.

 

my buddy has a s10 that runs in the 8's. currently running a motown block over 400 cubes an a big shot. another friend had a s10 with a dart little m block running 9s on the rear bumper. Last i checked s10s are a full frame not uni an are similar to the g body frame which also twist. ever see a grand national with dents above the rear tires on each side or a malibu. with a cage i dont understand why they would twist.

 

A cage or an x-brace would probly be sufficient. Both would be optimal

From the link I posted:

"The body is not designed to be a structural member.....It just keeps the weather off the driver.

Our trucks have ladder frames....the reason why is that they are easy and cheap to build..and in most (but not all) cases they will do the job. The problem with a ladder frame is that they have terrible torsional rigidity...meaning they twist from uneven forces being applied at the various mounting points (suspension/engine.)

The rubber body bushings allow the cab of the truck to float a little bit over the frame.....the problem with the windshield cracking is that the V-8 is twisting the frame beyond what the flexible rubber bushings can absorb. The forces are then applied to the cab which, like I said, isn't designed to be rigid....but that glass is very rigin in the lateral axis...but also very brittle....hence the cracking! (ever try to bend cold glass????? Dosen't work well does it?) If you put in a bushing that moves even less than the rubber(urethane) then the stresses are applied to the cab structure earlien and harder...making the problem worse!

Now since our trucks have the same kind of frame as the corvette (more or less) we can borrow a few of their tricks then we can look at what the real race car builders do stop this miserable condition. The corvette uses an X brace in the middle of the frame under the driver's and passenger's butts. So that is a good place to stare...have someone weld an X brace in. (Good luck finding a place to put it...but wehre the is a will...............

Also the NASCAR guys put a bulkhead on their cars to add a trmendous amount of lateral regidity....and depending how much anticipated twist they will encounter they add triangulation into the bulkhead...To make it as strong as possible lots of teams add shear panels (sheet metal panels the fill the entire area to the rectangular bulkhead) the reason for that is it's like an infinite triangulation of the area (calculus! Remember that shlt).

If it were me I'd do the X brace first and if I cracked the windshield again Id look into the bulkhead!"

 

just so u know i wasn't disagreeing about being weak frames, i just was against the uni body comment. Just like g bodys they flex badly problem is just easily solved an good info above to use.

 

unibody comment deleted