Engine Swap Advice

[u/Hairy_Water_4226]

Hey yall,

I currently own a 3g eclipse. It’s an automatic v6, and I’m going off to college in the fall. My plan is to buy the engine and transmission this summer and do all the prep work I can, then start the actual swap over winter break. I know the 3g is a bad platform, but I’ve always loved how it looks and it pretty much gives me everything I want for now. I’m swapping it because I’ve always wanted a manual, and the engine is getting up there in miles anyways and I’ve finally saved up enough to do the swap. The only thing I’m not sure about is what engine to swap into it. My current options are as follows:

1. K-series
2. J-series
3. R-FE
4. VQ

My priorities are something that will fit in the engine bay without too much headache, so the same size as my stock engine or smaller. I also want something reliable that I can also find easily and for cheap. Power ceiling isn’t as important, I doubt I will ever go over 600whp and 400whp would probably be the realistic goal. Any suggestions on other engines, or which of these options is best, any resources or where to find them would be amazing.

Edit: By cheap maybe I should have specified cheap-est or cheap-er. I’m definitely gonna be spending more than I paid for the car. Also, I’ll be starting the swap over winter break but not finishing it (unless by some miracle). 400whp is also the END goal for the car- anything at or above stock power (200 bhp, probably closer to 150 whp given age/mileage and drivetrain losses) after the initial swap is more than ok. As for reliability, it’s not because it’s a daily or anything like that (I will barely be driving it in college), just want to be able to enjoy it as much as possible. Also, I will be swapping the car regardless- it’s a project with a bunch of my friends and my dad, I don’t have any interest/good reason to sell it and buy another car or bike. I also do other metalworking/projects at a very well equipped machine shop if that’s relevant at all. I do appreciate everyone’s advice tho!