jerbear

Hello all;
Please help me out with some swap options. I am in Buffalo NY, and the snow has started flying. I have a beauty of a 1991 4x4 x-cab with 3.0 (slow) V-6, 5speed manual tranny. It has a blown head gasket on it. Happened a few months ago. If I have to rebuild it, I want a little more power, but I know options are limited and $$$$$. Not much bang for the buck. Do I, suck it up and put it back together as it is, swap in a 3.4, swap in a 7MGTE or wait for Dan in another thread with his Camry hybrid? You guys are the pros, please give me some advice.
Thank you

Flamedx4

A little porting and some headers and exhaust should make a big difference. Unless you're hoping for 100hp increase... A worked-over intake too (not a cold air kit, but the actual manifold.) Depends on what you want. For me, there seems to be no sense in going to the trouble and expense to swapping in a 3.4 or supra motor and getting just a few more ponies, I would either find those few ponies by breathing some life into the 3.0 or go V8! But that's just me, last time I said that I got seriously and quite rudely told to shut the hell up....

Options ya got lots of, 3.4, Supra, Chev v6, Chev v8, Ford v8, start messing with the bellhousings and adapters available and all sorts of swaps might be possible. You're only limited by your skills, imagination, and budget. <grin>

jerbear

Thanks for the thoughts. I would never be rude to someone for posting there opinion as long as they state its their opinion, and not to be taken as gospel. You have put evrything in a nice little perspective and I appreciate that. I would just like a little more power. Nothing too crazy, but I thought that Dan's Camry hybrid was going to be the way to go. I already have acquired most of the parts and now I am a little gun shy about amassing another group of parts t=only to be told that was the stupid way to go. There are people who have been there before me and I need to understand "why" they did what they did. BTW you have a very nice truck yourself. Thanks again

Flamedx4

I was impressed Dan's efforts. Might be a great idea! I've been researching the AX15 bellhousings and adapters. It looks like it might be possible to use a Dodge or Jeep bellhousing and install a hemi.... I got started on this track when I found a hemi with 5 speed attached and wondered if I could put my tcase on it... couldn't it appears, but then other possibilities occurred to me. If I do a solid axle swap I could get a D44 for the front with the diff on either side, so then the tcase options get bigger. One thing leads to another and the $$ start to mount in big hurry. I will probably either rebuild my 3.0 for a bit better breathing and some headers and exhaust, or go with a fuel injected small block chevy or ford. I hope I don't need to worry about it for a while yet, but I do have a few miles on the motor...

If you do the Camry mods let us know how it goes. Good luck!

Scottz

The cheapest thing would be to get that 3.0 rebuilt. I have a 90' Xtracab with 276k miles and bone stock and was considering the same swap to a 3.4 but after doing a 3.4 swap in my 94' 4Runner and costing about 2,500 it's better to just rebuild the 3.0 at a cost about 1,500. But if you got a heavier Toyota like a 4Runner it's worth the extra cost to get those extra horse's and most important that extra torqe. And I agree with Flamedx4 on getting some headers they make a great improvment on a 3.0