[HIJACK]
Interesting. I was basing my appraisal of the W56 on Dave @ Marlin's advice... my W56 is a little crunchy and I was debating swapping to a R151 instead of a rebuild, then being ready for the 3.4. Still seems like the R150/151 family is beefier than the W56, and you get a lower 1st to boot with the 151. Anywho... found a R151 and its sitting in my barn, but the darn W56 seems to have sensed its approaching funeral and it is shifting better! (maybe Redline MT-90 just takes a while to 'work its way in').

As unalterably cool as the 3.4 would be (and good mileage too!), I do keep thinking about Ted's motors. My Jasper will be very strong for a good long while, but Ted could set me up with a cool mill for a lot less than a 3.4 and I could sell some unfortunate soul a good Jasper motor. Can't modify the Jasper much, with their altered pistons, cam, etc. Its about the only argument I can think of against Jasper - if you change your mind about stock and wanna hotrod it, you gotta change the head. Forget the pistons.

Hmmm. A built Tedmotor. Maybe with a blower. Hmmm. Whatever, a R151 will be dandy, just needs a shifter slightly relocated and a 23 spline tcase input.
[/HIJACK]