Thanks for the reply.

4.3LXJ do you have an Renix intake? PM me if you do and how much you want for it.

I thought about it some and I am not really sure what is going to be the best thing to do. Is an HO head a direct bolt on to that block?

Yes drilling and taping the intake for the TB will not be an issue. However fabricating a throttle cable bracket (it's an automatic and has cruise control) and bolted up might be an issue. What about the fuel rails? Are the factory hard lines up to the flex lines compatible? And the power steering pump- I will have to find brackets for it but will I also need to change the pump as well?

Time wise if just swapping out the HO head (provided the pushrods, rocker arms, etc are compatible) is going to be the easiest and best way to fix it I'm thinking.. I work 6 days a week and I really do not have a lot of time to be searching the u-pull-it yards to find everything I need.

I really wish I still had my TIG welder. I would just weld up the bottom portion of each of the intake ports, get the mounting surface milled flat and that should do it.

I do know that the camshafts are different but with the correct head it should run better because of the head flow and ports matching up. Or is this not really an issue?

Thanks.