Swap the 2.7. There is a reason the 2.4 has been sold new in a Toy truck for years.(I'm sure you can figure out why) It will be less headaches and you'll have a newer more reliable motor. Bigger engines don't work as hard and last longer because of it. (Your truck will truly be young at heart) Just think, turn the key, off you go, no long hours of research, no 8 grand, no toasted a piston because of a tuning error or whatever, just driving and wheeling.

It should yield good fuel economy while keeping weight down too. Just think if you modded the 2.7 even mildly, I suspect you'd be past a stock 3.0(plus weighs less) and long past what you can do with the 2.4. Best of all though, you still have the reliability of stock.

Unless engine building is your hobby, you'll probably come to what myself and many of my friends did after trying to hop up 4 bangers (in trucks too big for the motors), it just isn't worth it in the long run.

Frank.