83 ranger finaly ate her pigs

[abraxxas83ranger]

Well my old reliable 83 finaly gave up the ghost. I was in germany for 2 and half weeks and this my farm truck everyday driver and all around work horse. I got back from my business trip went to start the truck like normal (it was single digits at the airport here in iowa) The truck did not start well and seemed to cold smoke more than normal. I shrugged it off and started on my way home the ol girl didnt have much power and simply wouldnt handle 3rd gear (automatic) and seemed to have a slight miss when lugged even a little. With no other option to get home. 1130 at night ane i am ready to go home. I dropped the truck down into 2nd gear and just took my time geting home at 55. THe engine would clean up and stop the miss if the engine was reved and not lugged. so after getting home I pulled the truck in the shop hoping that the white smoke was from a blown modulator valve on transmission and causing the engine to smoke from ingesting tranny fluid from vacum line. Removed vacum line hoping to see tranny fluid but no luck dry as a bone. Have come to the conclusion that a head had cracked or head gasket has failed. (the antifreeze was up to snuff also coolant didnt freeze and break head). Ive had plans to put a v8 in this truck for quite some time but didnt want to mess with the truck while it was running so good. I ve been hangin on to my old bar car 86 grand marguise. The car is junk and has been seriously abused as i said it was my bar car for years while i was a wild kid. (still a wild kid i think) any way the engine always ran great. After reading up on this swap with all the info from you guys and the web this seems like a fairly simple swap with very few parts necessary for the swap. I am a mechanic and skilled fabricator with many other gear heading hobbies. My question is has anybody done this swap with this engine (the grand marquise) to c4 4wd. Is there any tribal knowledge or tricks anyone has for this i think ill start this project in the next 2 weeks or so. Thanks for the help in advance.