Engine Swap Options, new here

Hey, I havn't posted on here before. I tried searching around for awhile, but i couldn't really find a rundown on what engine swap options i have for my truck. I have a Diesel 1980 VW Rabbit Pickup.

The truck is in decent shape, but i'm getting pretty tired of having to put it in third to get up hills. So i'm either going to sell it and get somethig else, or maybe put some money into my rabit. What are my options?

get a 5-speed, then you can downshift from 5th to 4th. somehow it is a bit more gratifying.

I have had both a gas and a diesel vw and I am not sure that the gas engine has much more power than the diesel. It seemed like my GTI (gas engine) had more power, but I still found myself down-shifting for hills and passing. My GTI was a 5-speed, and my rabbit (diesel) is only a 4, so It seems like the the five speed helped with maintaining higher speeds, but I doubt it is enough to warrant the engine/trans swap. The gas engine and five speed trans should slip into the rabbit pick-up fairly easily, but a complete donor vehicle would almost be a necessity to get all the little odds and ends to make the swap work smoothly.
I have be toying with the idea of adding a turbo to my diesel, but haven't had the time to research it. I know of a guy in the twin cities who can fit a turbo to almost any engine including snowmobiles, motorcycles, boats, and pretty much any 4 cyl. gas import. I may make it a winter project since i don't plan on using the rabbit much after the sub-zero weather hits.

5 sp is a close ration borg warner type tranny. So adding a 5 speed wont help a lot because u will do more shifting just like i do with my bimmer, but gives u more perfomance and lower rpms at high way speeds. The ultimate tranny would be an 8 speed like some racing cars have when you shift a LOT constantly, which is fun

My advice if this is not a perfomance car and you dolotsa city driving get an auto, and you will rest while u drive not worring about clutch and stuff.

You can put a new beetle engine in it.Or you can put an 1985 or so jetta turbo engine in it.Or you can get a turbo oil pan from a turbo engine and also the turbo, intake and exhaust but it doesn't do much. My advice for some real power is take the jetta turbo engine bore it 0.050 mm over or .030" over put a high volume oil pump in it, port the head, have it shaved and put bigger valves in.Have the crank and rods balanced and blue printed put a bigger turbo on it and mount you a intercooler. This will smoke any diesel volkswagen out there. You will have more HP than the new beetles. Going from 52 to 140++ You can blow them little 13" tires off the rims.As far as downshifting no problem. Only con is you can't get heavy duty clutches for these rigs and stock clutches can't stand the torqe and HP so you have the go light. But whats a clutch compared to the look on peoples faces when they see blue smoke rolling out the tires and black smoke boiling out your 3" exhaust!! HAHA!! True story! Peace