94 s-10 4.3, let's give er life

[personal fleet]

Okay this is an extreme newbie post here. I have the old 4.3 with 165 horse/235torque. It has 160000 on her and still runs good I think. In everyday driving I'm not totally dissatisfied, theres plenty of power for highway merging and it's quiet and comfortable doing 75, 80. However I use this truck for work (construction-I added a leaf in the back..7FT bed) and for roaming around the hills of wisconsin with kayaks on top, bikes in the hitch rack, and a bed full of camping gear. It is at these times when she feels like shes straining. I got 15.4 mpgover 200 miles with this setup and was constantly shifting down and sticking my foot in it to maintain, but I know she's capable of more.
Now this is a high mileage engine, and I am not drag racing anyone, but I know that it's about time for a tuneup AND I might have detected just the slightest leak coming from the Y pipe, so it's time to consider what sort of help I can give her. I'm thinking in the lower end of the 1000-2000$ range. I am just a regular guy who turns wrenches on his truck when he can, and takes it to the shop when it's prudent to do so. I do like to stick my foot in it occasionaly to make a move and I just want to know it's there for me a bit.
I'm interested in what real world guys out there have done to get the most bang for the buck really just to help their similar engine/vehicle breath better.

Any advice is appreciated/considered.

Thanks, Shawn:

[gman4dx266]

Not sure what kind of help you could get for you S10. Possible a cold air intake, and a bottle of octane boost after you turn your distributor. Your truck is a few years too old to work with HPTuners. I had a 4.3 In my 06 Fullsize 1500. It wasnt *too* bad, I did definitely want more though. I used HPT on it and it made quite a change.

Bottom line is, you can only better utilize what you've got. Not sure why your mileage was sucking that bad...You must have really been on it good a few times. haha

[personal fleet]

Thanks gman. Yeah, I was afraid of that. Too old and archaic a system for this. One can dream though. I guess I'll have to punt.