need advice on an engine swap Options

[Zimluura]

My car's been leaking trace amounts of oil for a while now. I recently I had an overheating incident on the highway. got towed to wall-mart and put a gallon of coolant in and was able to drive home.
Just got the diagnosis from my mechanic and he says the coolant system isn't leaking, but there's a large amount of pressure building in it. [edit] he thinkgs it's a cracked head gasket [edit]. I think he said he stopped it at 27psi. just put 5k into getting an auto to manual conversion too.

so I think i've got to do an engine swap now. the question is, what should it be? my primary mechanic doesn't like to veer off the beaten path, mostly because he doesn't like to go over estimates. so he says he can ge a reman 5s-fe for 3.5K and then he estimates perhaps as high as another 3.5K for the labor and extra parts if he needs any. he says he has no idea on how much a rebuild would be, let alone rebuilding with better parts - which are hard to find and, for 6gc, usually expensive.

the mechanic who did my manual conversion, he lives too far away to by my primary, but he doesn't mind trying swaps and things like manual conversions. and his work seems pretty good, in-so-far that my primary mechanic said the conversion looked like it was well done.

for a while now i've been thinking about the 2gr-fe. if they can fit it in an mr2 it can probably fit in a celica. but i'd also be, as far as i can tell the first to try this swap. i'm not a complete idiot when it comes to cars, but i don't have a garage, and that really limits my ability to further educate myself.

what do you guys think i should do?
I'm prioritizing 100% legal with an egr system & OBD2 (car is a '99), i'd like good reliability and i'd like a bit more power, i'd like to keep the s54 transmission because it was rebuild less than a year ago (until i'm ready to do the oft-spoken, seldom-done e154f).

so far here are the options i'm considering:
* 2GR-FE swap, (heard the e154f won't like v6, but i think a custom rear manifold might clear the xfer case - but it's a bridge i can look at crossing when i'm ready for awd conv), is it feasible to stick with the s54? there are certainly times when i want more power than the 130 i have, but i generally don't push the engine.

* 1MZ-FE seems popular - seems a safer choice because it's been done before.

* get current 5S-FE rebuilt with better internals parts mostly favoring durability & slight performance improvement. any recommendations on where i would get those parts would be good then.

* build a garage & learn to rebuild the 5S-FE myself (most expensive option with least immediate payoff)

This post has been edited by Zimluura: Oct 4, 2012 - 2:45 PM

[Zimluura]

njccmd2002: 2 different mechanics, the guy who estimated the engine swap for 7k did not recommend doing it, and he gave an estmation he was likely to get under, still it's way to much to be worth doing, he only offered it because i'd just spent so much on the manual conv. fwhen i got the manual conversion i was well over 2k on parts & shipping alone. i'm sure if i knew a toyota parts guy i'd have gotten some nice discounts but as it stands, i don't get oem parts cheaply. i haven't been able to find any inexpensive options around here for performance modifications. could be all about high rent in this area, the more rural shops i'm sure could do better. but i don't really want to be driving/towing several hours each way when/if something needs tinkering in the first few days. i probably have the tools to change the headgasket at the moment, but working outside here can really suck, still i might be able to pull it off.

soulshadow: pondered getting a c6 rolling chassis and dropping (while cutting to fit) a 6gc body on it. lots of custom work in that. if i learn to weld maybe. i do want to stick with the 6gc, it has become the car i want, and i don't expect to get my money (or anywhere close to it) in the event i sell it (which is unlikely). it's a car, it's a tool and a toy, not an investment. if i had the option of the f430 or the celica i'd take the f430, sell it quicky for very little and buy the celica again.

czwalga: want to do a 100% legal swap (so EGR & 99+ year), so i'm not allowed easy routes like the wonderful 3s-g* engines which, to my knowledge never had obd2. if i get the engine fixed & upgraded, how much would you charge for an awd conversion?