Ru rammin 2?

I don't know what your interested in but I recommend a 12 valve. I've known a lot of people that have tried lots of trucks and wound up with a 12 valve in the end. I have more power in my $300 mods than one of my friends has in his $3000 mods in a 24 valve. He has a chip, exhaust, intake, and lots of others and I walk away in a drag race. My other friend has a 2000 6-spd with 4'' exhaust, LS, injectors, ported heads, 5 stage chip, and some other stuff and I can beat him too. 12 valves is where it's at. better mileage, longer life, way more power with less out of pocket cost, and way easier and cheaper to work on. I found quite a few 2nd gen std cab 12 valves for sale that are pretty clean where I'm at in CO. They've been selling for around $6000-$10000 around here and since it is a mountain in each direction to get out of here most local trucks have 5 spd. If you want some info on them I would be willing to see what I could do. PM me if you're interested.

Junk Man

Buy another truck & swap your drivetrain over. A truck without motor will be relatively in expensive. You then have everything you need except for the tranny. You could part out what's left which would be easy since you will already have pulled it. If you don't want to swap, start looking for another truck but keep yours for parts if you end up with another 12 valve. They're getting hard to find in good shape.

wcbcruzer

Since it's got rust then I'd say get a new truck.

Tate

I'd say get another truck, whatever flavour you like. Hang onto the 12v and you can turn it into one of those ugly trucks that take everybody by surprise. I imagine if you try to trade it in, you wouldn't get much by your description.

MSM

Why not try to find a southern 1/2 ton gasser and do a body swap.The 94-97 2wd gassers sell reasonably cheap.Clean up and paint your frame and running gear,swap the bodies.