MoGas

I'm looking at buying a new(er) 3.0 for a '91 truck. The truck only has 136k on it.

I was having lunch with a buddy yesterday and he is the original owner of the truck. He shows up and says his truck is acting up and can I look at it after lunch. Of course I will.

I go out and have him start and it is knocking horribly. He shut it down and I check the stick. Nothing. We run to my shop and fill a jug with some bulk oil and go back and pour it in. It takes 4.5qt to get to the full mark. Fires it up, knocks for a second and quiets down to normal. Give it a little gas, the knock comes back worse. I think a rod broke. There are no leaks, and he is not an oil checking type. I think the guy that changed his oil didn't put any in it. There are only a few hundred miles since it was done, the undercarriage is dry, nothing on his garage floor, no oil migration to the coolant, and it would be a horrible smoker if it was burning. The only other thing would be vandalism. But who would go through the trouble of draining someone's oil in a parking lot and putting the plug back in?

Anyhow, my buddy has been saving for a new truck, so he has about 17k saved up. He wants me to give him options on Monday.

I see the options as:

Sell as is. I don't really know what it is worth, I typically won't pay much for any broke truck, but he is a long time friend.

Buy a reman: They look to be in the 2500 range, 3 year warranty.

Buy a Toyota short block. 3500ish, 3/36 warranty, all brand new. Requires more labor and parts, but not a big deal.

I rebuild: I'm guessing < 2 grand. He would get no real warranty, but I have built about 50 engines in my time and never had a failure. It is time consuming, but he has another car to drive.

That brings me to a JDM pull out. The prices look good, 30-50k on a Toyota engine is nothing, not really sure about warranty, and I've never bought one.

Who are the reputable importers?
I would definitely put a new timing belt, but would I want to go ahead and do head gaskets? I figure I would strip it down to a long block and swap everything over. I know some of the sensors are different.

Any advice?

Dave

niall

Careful on the 30-50k statements, they aren't always accurate.

That being said, I've had a bunch of luck with JDM engines, a few I have rebuilt, and after tearing them down, they were in great condition. I've also ran a few as they came (new timing belt, pulley, pump etc) in turbo applications, and never had an issue in thousands of kilometers.

How are you're wiring and fab skills? Just to stir the pot, have you looked at swapping a 5vze in? It'll come in under the price of the reman or long block, give you more power potential, and if you have the skills is a Great upgrade.

brianh699

Agreed I would swap a 3.4, lots of good info on this forum for it. I haven't yet but will be doing this swap if my 3.0 gives out.

MoGas

I want to keep it stock.