I do engine swaps a lot in my world and I can safely say this, "It always seems like a great idea at the start. Then after you get it bolted into place, (which it the easy part), You have to start getting into all of the little things that take a tremendous amount of time to get finished. And it also can start diving deep into the Wallet, $$! Most people cant finish a hotrod build let alone a project of this Physical size. Many on here including myself make this stuff look easy, "Heck, I will just make this bracket to replace the correct one that wont fit!" But many on the our site, and many I have met in person, just don't understand the amount of work and money it takes to swap any type of engine. That's why you can find a million unfinished projects for sale everyday. Not to mention that life just gets in the way sometimes. Just to be clear, Aleigh, this is not pointing directly at you! Heck you might just be the person who pulls this swap off! I would just do the direct swap if I had the known good replacement engine in my possession. I look at the cost of the engine swap and the vehicle it is going into. I hate to do it but many of my friends have purchased a several thousand dollar LS engines to put in a car that will never be worth a grand in the end except for parts. But to each his own and sometimes we do things just because it doesn't make sense!!! LOL good luck and sorry to hear about all the trials! Eric