Blown head gasket in '92 5sp/4x4 T4R

[veryexcellent]

Greetings everyone. So my 92' has a blown head gasket and I'm entertaining various next steps. Car has ~177k and I paid $2150 for it in late March of this year. Some minor work including the valve cover gasket was performed a couple months ago totaling just over $500. The shop I towed the car to quoted me $1500 - $1900 for the head gasket job but also suggested a new motor might be in my best interest at this point ($3500-$4000). With all this said, the 4Runner is my second vehicle as I have a 97' M3 daily driver/time attack build currently in progress. I had originally planned on keeping the 4Runner for only a few years until shit hit the fan out of left field, but I'm not sure I could find a suitable replacement for it in the same price range. I'm not afraid to go ahead and swap it myself, but given my busy schedule with school and my other car, doing the work myself is almost out of the question at this point and I'm pretty set on selling the car and taking a loss, but before I bite that bullet I'd like to consider some other perspectives. I'm open to suggestions, even if a little crazy. For example, my buddy started throwing around the idea of swaps from different marques, and the BMW M52 (92-99 325i) popped into my head. Feel free to chime in a fair price if I were to sell, what you would do in my shoes, etc. Any feedback will be appreciated. Attached are some quick photos I snapped of the car.

 

[92-SR5]

I would throw a toyota 5vz 3.4 into it. It shouldn't cost too much to do so. Lots of write-ups about it around the internet.

 

[timlyttle]

i have a 1990 with the same issue it also has around 177xxx miles on it...why not just replace the head gasket yourself....i purchased all parts and i got the service manual online...with a buddies help should only take a day to do all the work...1AAUTO.com has a head gasket kit for yours for about 90 bucks and one that includes the head bolts also for about 160...and thats including the head gaskets the intake gaskets hell theirs a lot of gaskets in the kit...so for less then say maybe 250 total you can get the parts you need and do it yourself then drive that sucker for another 100xxx miles that will give you time to save up for the engine swap you really want to do....just my 2 cents is all...good luck either way