like most have said. find a donor. i spent 4 years trying to find mine. and when i did, i had to drive 5 hours one way to tow it home. i was able to sell the tires and rims from it, and almost got all the money back from it. when i was done with it, i took the shell to work (scrap yard) and got $300 for it, and also sold a few other parts from it.
however, i did rip into the motor to make sure everything was good, replaced a few parts (oil pump, timing chain, water pump, and had the heads looked over) just because it was out in the open, and didnt want to have to pull it all apart when it was together.
it also depends on if you want to mess with anything before you stab it back in. i put headers on it, ported the heads and intake, and added a 87-93 mustang cam to it as well. also, i did the 4406 swap, which ment i had to get a different case, and get a rear drive shaft made. also, if you are going to do a case swap, and want to lift it later on, you will need to redo the rear shaft, because it will be to short vs. stock.
im not trying to scare you from it. if you want to do a simple swap, and if your smart about it, you will come out in the end (hell, i even sold the old trans to a guy i work with, and the motor ended up in a truck i bought and sold because it needed a motor).
as for wiring, there are only a couple of wires (alt, ac, and oil pressure) that will need to be changed. if you look on my registry, i have listed the ones you need to change.
start to finish, it took me 2 weeks to do. that is also taking in consideration i couldnt do anything for 2 days because i was waiting for my case and drive shafts to be done, and i also screwed my back up royally haft way into it. but i did everything on a lift.
it really isnt to hard to do. if you can pull a motor out of one of these trucks, you have won haft the battle.
also, josh and i have seen both of our trucks in person.
