ok so my farm truck has been sluggish lately, beyond tolerable by any means. basically what i'm wanting to find out is if anybody knows an approximate price i'm looking at to either have the enging rebuilt or have the engine replaced all together. also which one would be cheaper and which one would give back the most power possible.
you need to provide more information for an accurate answer call your local dodge dealership and ask their opinion.
Unless you are going to labor yourself the days of rebuilding engines are over. It is going to cost you a lot in labor to install an engine. A new crate engine is the way to go imo.
depending on if i get this job or not is the difference ebtween a brand new hemi crate engine or an engine rebuild.
my vote goes for the hemi engine if you get the chance, have one and love it. not a complete necessity, but its nice and gets decent mileage compared to some of the other engines when your not stomping it
my vote, which is maybe the most knowledgeable. is check your PCV valve, it will cause your truck to have to work more, and almost stall some times. and just run crappy. Check your vacuum hoses, and is it fuel injected or carbonated? Some more info. how do you mean sluggish? like the rev's dont pick up or theres no torque left?
my dad just had a new 3.9 crate put in and i'm not a big fan of it honestly. i love my truck and everything about it but a brand new 3.9 is just not my style. also with this truck since i just got a mint t100 with 6 inch lift, i'll be making it a toy and with a v8 i'll have much more room to play around with add-ons. like i said to the previous quote, it's going to be a toy so when i use it i'll be mudding it until the warning light comes on for fuel. checked it all but the actual engine itself. what i'm thinking is build-up from the past owner not maintaining the oil correctly. sluggish as in it doesn't have the pull it used to and the acceleration is just plain shit.
A basic engine rebuild is ~$1500 and most shops charge around 500 to remove an engine, putting a new one in is extra..Get the engine loked over by a trustworthy competent shop and go from there, you might not need a whole rebuild. If you do end up needing a rebuild or a new engine don't go with a hemi. I dont know anything about rams but with most cars you cant just go from a v6 to a monster motor..you risk tearing off the rearend. Go to a shop and get professional advice, a forum is only so useful when it comes to cars. Hope you dont need to spend too much, cars are money pits!
if i were to upgrade to a hemi i would redo the whole drive-train and axle set-up. i was lucky enough to witness the hilarity of what happens when you put a v8 in a truck set up for a v6. laughed my ass off until the dude started crying (then i luaghed even harder.)
did you do a tune up..spark plugs and wires, dist cap and rotor, change pcv, change oil, change atf, check air filter? maybe your cat-con is clogged if it has trouble revving maybe do a seafoam cuz its cheap and easy i also dont quite understand because you say your dad put a new 3.9l crate engine in already, but youre asking about a rebuild?
This is a whole lot more information than your original post. You just wanted to know what would provide "more power, and was cheapest" between a rebuild and crate? For the type of money you are talking about...for a hemi engine, new tranny, rear end you are better off just buying a new truck fuck all the conversion work, imo. Have you priced a hemi crate engine lately? No offense, but you don't sound mechanically inclined enough to go investing in a used engine my advice is for your 1997 dodge ram, if, you want to keep it... put the same engine the factory did in it. There is not much you are going to do with that vehicle that will make more sense than what the engineers designed it for.
catalitic converter with the hemi i would get a lot more performance than a 3.9l but it would cost a lot more too. as to the mechanically incline comment, i have experience working on everything from an Audi to a Yugo. also i wouldn't buy a used engine, since used is the problem i'm having with mine. buying used in general when talking about cars is just too risky, unless you pay to have a complete inspection done before purchase. a complete inspection of a motor without the rest of the vehicle is just too much hassle. buying a used engine from craigslist is a horrible idea. with the way people maintain their trucks around here i'd end up getting something even worse than what i already have. full tune-up done about 3 weeks ago. my dad had a 3.9l crate engine put into HIS truck, not mine.
I will tell you again. Like I did before and you just picked one sentence out to rebuke. For the type of money you are going to, and apparently, idiotically are willing to spend on a hemi upgrade in a 97 ram from a v6 engine you can buy a new fuckin used dodge, with a hemi. Get real. Don't dodge my direct question.. look at the cost of a hemi crate engine.
i couldn't expect you to know this without me telling you but my truck right now has a 6 inch lift, steel tube roll cage, 5 point safety harnesses and a hand-made steel square tube push bar. plus a lot more. the 5.7L hemi i'm considering is about $7500 the amount of work and money i have in this truck is more than what a hemi crate and conversion would cost me.