No worries, Dave. My interest in the Sirius lump is that it's a known quantity. I love the big 2.6. I love that it's non-interference. I love that it runs a chain. And I love the "steamshovel" nickname. But I hate the fueling options. This carb is all the nightmares of a California-spec 4G63T packed into less than a cubic foot. I've considered TBI, but that's still a decent amount of work for a less than desirable solution. And though I could fairly easily source one of them fancy 4G54 MPI intakes from down under, I suspect I'd also have to have the head machines to do it right.

I bolt up a wideblock 4G64, with a DSM wire harness I've already got piled up in the corner, maybe a set of Evo VIII cams collecting dust on my shelf, tuned with an Evo VIII ECU just taking up space on my bench, and I've got - before turbocharging - a 25mpg, 160hp truck. That's 70% better fuel economy and 60% more horsepower, for about what it would cost me to keep yanking and rebuilding the Astron lumps every year. BONUS: Passing emissions doesn't require a witch doctor (or Witch Hazel).

Right now, I'm thinking I like this truck too much to let it go - even for a Delica. It's tougher than the Delica. It's safer than the Delica. It's faster than the Delica. It's more capable than the Delica. But it's hopelessly underpowered and inefficient, outclassed by other powertrains. I need more power. I need better fuel economy. And I need something that doesn't utterly confound me with chronic failure on a quarterly basis.

It's strange. I haven't genuinely loved a machine this much since Daisy. I cut my teeth building and driving that all motor DSM. I'll always be that strange, quasi-outsider who wants to do something different. Rocinante deserves as much. Call me crazy, but he deserves a racing heart to match his racing stripes. It's not going to happen this year. And it might not happen until late next year, but right now, I'm thinking 4G64T (and a transmission rebuild).

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