[ngcles]

Hi Ron & All,

I'm pretty certain a 3.2l V6 Rodeo engine from the same era will fit with no more than the odd tweak. There should be heaps of those around 2nd hand at wreckers. I'm surprised that happened, they are very strong and reliable engines generally. I had a 5spd manual 1999 model V6 Rodeo dual cab 4x4 and it was the most reliable car I've ever owned. A bit thirsty true but I could squeeze 11.5 l/100km on trips with the back full of 18" 'scope and rarely got worse than 14l/100km.

I loved mine to death and wish I'd never been made (by my family ... grrr) to part with it for something less "truck-like". 200,000km 3 sets of tyres, 2 sets of brake pads still on the original clutch, never consumed any oil. Only thing to go wrong big-time was a petrol pump in the aftermarket long-range 130l tank (that cost a bomb to replace ~$1500- 7 years ago + a full tank of fuel down the drain).

Went to Qld twice, Victoria, S.A, towed a medium-sized van through most of that and (apart from that fuel pump) it never missed a beat. Not the best off-road by any stretch of the imagination but I've got photos of me snatching Hi-Luxes and Prado's out of sand bogs on Fraser that I cruised through (to be fair they were rental 4x4's with idiot drivers and no idea of how to drive offroad).

Hope it works out okay. Glad to see you had such a great trip.


Best,

Les D