I inherited my dads Dakota a few years back, 2wd, 3.9 V6, auto. Body and interior are beautiful (Florida truck has never seen a Michigan winter) but that V6 is a TURD. Either it has to go or the truck does...

I'm being forced to retire soon (chemo ...) and I'm going to lose my company vehicle (after 22 years) so I need a daily driver. The Dakota would be perfect but again that V6...

So what would be a good, reliable, relatively inexpensive swap. Not looking for a race truck here but I want something that has some guts.

My company vehicle is a Grand Caravan and I love the Pentastar V6, if the Dakota ran like the Caravan I'd be happy but looking all over the net it doesn't seem like the Pentastar swap is easy and hasn't been done much.

I've thought about a 5.7 or an old school small block and I've also looked at a doing a LS swap (Blasphemy I know but I don't care... :^ ) )

Anyone?