Sorry to resurect an old thread, I recently bought a 79 short bed with the Buick V6 conversion. They used to sell the kits for this swap but they are nearly impossible to find now. The LUV I bought was probably built in the early 80s, someone spent a WAD of cash on this truck. It sat for better than a decade, maybe more. It is totally rust free, and has an L88 (RARE!!!) fiberglass hood on it. It has a 5 lug conversion and an S10 rear axle too.
The Buick is an even fire 231, it has headers(!) designed for this conversion - too bad somone wrapped them. They are rotted every where there was wrap. I plan on rebuilding them using stainless tube from several sets of junk headers.
As far as the engine swap goes, it offers plenty of room in the engine area. It looks factory fit, and has plenty of torque. It is pretty much stock, I plan to do some performance mods. As you know, there are plenty of Grand Nationals that are super quick. This is basically the same power plant...
Hooker still sells the transmission adapter that bolts to the crossmember, (Jegs/Summit) and the engine mounts aren't too complex. It is as easy as the Small Block swap, just not as much power. If you bolt in an S10 axle, the S10 driveshaft is a bolt in. You also have many choices of gear ratios and the 98 to 05 Blazers have disc brakes and a rear sway bar.
Here's a pic of a disc brake Blazer posi in my 1980 Luv with a 350 SBC:
Side view:
Not meaning to jack this thread, but it was sort of dead...
Edit:
I found a pic of the 79 underside.
You can see the bolt on transmission mount, the deep pan, headers and I don't know why, but a custom oil pan that was gold irridited.
Everything on my 79 is custom made or quality fabricated.