So I am leaning towards replacing the engine now, just to know that it will be working correctly and what not. And I'll have the old engine to play around with and possibly rebuild down the road. Anyway, I found a couple more engines that are available, and the one I think I am going to pick up is from a 2007 Aspen with 20,000 miles. Is there any reason why this engine would not be compatible? I can not see any reason why it would not be, but I figured I should ask just to make sure.

 

yes, that's what I meant by the bottle brush. Modern liners have nightmares about being bottle brushed, and they squat and cry in the corner and are never the same after.

Pistons should be able to be pulled from underneath without removing the engine, but you might have to get stuff out the way. But after seeing the damage on the other pistons , you might as well replace the engine.

 

the only thing about the ram that you will find differnt is that the 06-08 Ram Hemi's that are directly compatible for you , is they have MDS which is a diff cam and lifter package. Don't think the Aspen has that, BUT if your like most of us, we bought either a Superchips or a Diablo predator programmer to disable that irritating 4cyl feature. i'd assume everything else would be the same other than things like motor mounts, headers, possibly diff intake..front accessories may be mounted differently...etc.. but all other internals would be the same.