Well. I'm not exactly driving it yet but I put a carburated 289 from a '65 Mustang into my 2001 Mazda B3000 (almost identical to a Ranger of same year)
Decided to go carburated because I wanted that old school v8 sound and find that's what I grew up with and understand the best.
AOD tranny still giving me heartburn and long nights reading different forums and sites on what to do. I have a couple leaks that I'm in the process of plugging up and and few more parts to buy to complete her but I do have a few pix of the transformation which I will try to post later on. (oil filter concerns not really a huge issue and although I decided to use the remote adapter I puchased, there is room to use a standard short filter with the newer model steering unit's location)
For anybody that's reading this or considering a similar build, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you purchase a donor car/truck complete with transmission and all the extra pieces. Running to the recycling yard or puchasing miscellaneous parts off internet parts suppliers for brackets, engine and tranny filler tubes, hoses, rad, etc is VERY VERY time consuming and gets expensive.
This ,for example is what happened to me. You cannot believe how simple little pieces like a crank pulley or finding hardened 7/16" NF bolts to mount your flexplate to the crank can stall your build. No - the stock flywheel bolts from your flywheel/pressure plate do not work) and your local hardware store is not likely to keep these oddballs in stock.
Also cannot stress enough to read as much about the engine/tranny combination you are choosing because things like tranny crossmembers and driveshafts will probably need to be modified (as was my case) and if you don't have a way of cutting, machining, and welding those items as your installation starts, you are going to be frustrated
Thank goodness today's gearheads have resources like TRS to guide them along. So much great info here. Imagine what it was like 25 years ago before the internet. Well. I guess picking up the phone and calling a buddy and picking his brain until he passed you along to another buddy wasn't such a bad thing
Lastly. This is NOT a weekend project unless all the stars are lined up in your favour. Count on 4 or 5 days minimum