2002 Ram 4.7.......dying?

[Goofyexponent]

My girlfriend's brother just bought a 2002 ram quad cab. It has the 4.7 with about 141000 kms on it. The PO was not very nice to this truck.

From what we can tell the oil was never changed. He had to change it once a week for about a month to get the crap out of the motor. It knocks during cold starts, puffs white and blue smoke and sounds like a smashed can of @$$holes.

His mechanic thinks the head gaskets are on the way out at the least, and thinks the heads are warped. They compression tested the rad and before it got ANY pressure it was blowing pressure out the ying yang. The truck uses about a gallon of coolant in a week.

What we are thinking is to rebuild it. A used engine around here goes for about $3500 and you do not know what you are getting into.

would it be worth a rebuild? Maybe a Hemi swap? any ideas?

 

[ameristar1]

Hey Goofy; heh, heh, only one way to go if you can do it legal like and the smog police don't get ya. B swap it baby! Or if you do the Hemi, find a 6.1.
Actually, the 4.7 is not a bad motor, just costly to fix. And too many people treat them like the previous PO did.
Still, just on principle, I'd dieselize that bad boy. Somebody must have a P pumped 5.9 CTD floating around somewhere........

 

[Goofyexponent]

this thought crossed our mind.......and man would that thing EVER work

 

[ameristar1]

C'mon G, go ahead and do it; you know you want to........

It'll actually be cheaper to do the B swap with a mild tune up than freshening up the gasser.
And the mpg will go way up. Is it a half ton? If so, you can stick some super tall gears in the rearend and do 150+mph.