T5 swap with V8 T5?

you say the V8 ones are easier to find???
I'm taking a road trip. Usually the "V8" are trashed and alot more expensive for some reason. Dont get too caught up in the strength as I've made piles of runs in the 12's with both the V8 and my 2.3 and all of my cars have a stock 4cyl trans.

If you can get one cheap though you would use all of the related items, Clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing and bellhousing from the 2.3. About any machine should be able to turn the input shaft diameter down to the 2.3. I don't think the inputs will interchange because of the number of teeth on the input gear.