My 1999 se 3.3 has 450000kms+ i have no prior maintenance history and it seems that there was a lack of maintenance. I bought it as a parts truck for my 98 2.4 automatic truck but i ended up building the fully loaded 4wd truck instead and now i am wondering how long this 3.3 will last. I know the 2.4 is a bullet proof motor even though it has little to no power, im just wondering if swapping the 3.3 out for a 2.4 is even possible while keeping the 3.3 drivetrain.
3.3 to 2.4 swap
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I don't think the drivetrain is compatible, but even if you got around that, I would be concerned that, your 4WD weighs 1000 pounds more than the truck your 4cyl engine was made for. I can't imagine driving my truck with 30 to 35 less hp, and would think it would wear out the 4 cyl prematurely.
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The 4 and 6 use the same transmission. They use a different bolt on bell housing to adapt the transmission to the 2 engines. The last couple of years hardbody, which is essentially a gen1 frontier, only came in 4 cylinder. Not fast but was powerful enough. It did come with low running gears to compensate. 4.1 or 4.35 ??
The two different '95 Hardbodies I owned at the same time had different gearing in them. The beat-up one was much better off the line and I could drive in too high a gear at too low a speed without a whole lot of fuss, and cruised at freeway speeds ~3300 RPM if memory serves. The nicer one was definitely highway-geared, below 3000 RPM on the freeway at reasonable speeds, and I had to remain in first until 15 MPH, second until 30 MPH, third until 40 MPH if the truck wasn't going to be an entirely gutless wonder.
Dad has the nicer one now, he's getting 24 miles per gallon with it. Best I ever got was 20, albeit I owned it during the hotter months and needed to run the air conditioning and he's only had it for a month in our mild winters. He drives with a much lighter foot than I do though, so he still may get better fuel mileage than I ever did.
If you're willing to accept a truck that's not quick off the line and doesn't go especially fast then it may not be unreasonable to try to put the four cylinder in, but bear in mind that they built an awful lot of these trucks with the same drivetrain that you already have. If you can find another V6 then you won't have to swap wiring, the computer, etc, which having seen that sort of thing done on other models ('95 Dakota's EFI V8 and full wiring/computer into an '89 replacing the TBI V6) is a whole lot of work and is bound to have several gotchas along the way to resolve. If you were doing the other way around, upgrading a four cylinder to a six, it might be easier to justify because of the performance gains, but to go to a smaller may be biting off a lot without enough gain.
Dad has the nicer one now, he's getting 24 miles per gallon with it. Best I ever got was 20, albeit I owned it during the hotter months and needed to run the air conditioning and he's only had it for a month in our mild winters. He drives with a much lighter foot than I do though, so he still may get better fuel mileage than I ever did.
If you're willing to accept a truck that's not quick off the line and doesn't go especially fast then it may not be unreasonable to try to put the four cylinder in, but bear in mind that they built an awful lot of these trucks with the same drivetrain that you already have. If you can find another V6 then you won't have to swap wiring, the computer, etc, which having seen that sort of thing done on other models ('95 Dakota's EFI V8 and full wiring/computer into an '89 replacing the TBI V6) is a whole lot of work and is bound to have several gotchas along the way to resolve. If you were doing the other way around, upgrading a four cylinder to a six, it might be easier to justify because of the performance gains, but to go to a smaller may be biting off a lot without enough gain.
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