ive got my eyes on an 85 SFA pickup, the frame has been completley redone with 1/4" beam steel and has fibreglass quarterpanels on a 3" lift.

the engine however is toast.
The guy rebuilt it, and it started knocking after 100miles, so he ripped on the head to fix it and never got back to it. that was about a year ago for him.

So the head has been off for quite a while, and the cylinders have a bit of rust to them.

A rebuild on this engine seems unlikley.

So my question is, what am i better off doing? getting another 22re and dropping that in? or going with something newer?

I just lost my 99 tacoma to a frame recall but LOVE the 5VZ-FE engine, a wrecker in the area has quoted me $750 for the engine.

How hard is it to make a 5vz-fe engine fit into the 85 engine bay?

 

I think you're better off dropping another 22re in. The 5VZ-FE would take some fabbing, plus new tranny. But its all up to you

 

yeah, I'd go with the 22RE. I just got done putting mine in last weekend, I just had it rebuilt from top to bottom and it runs like a top!