Thanks for everyone's replys! Can anyone give me 2nd gen 12 valve engine compartment dimensions and an 80s Chevy engine compartment dimensions? Also, can anyone answer the body lift and 2wd or 4wd front axle question?

moving the engine back six inches does not take any more weight then moving it six inches forward, that is just to small of a difference. But it will make it handle a little better because of moving the weight distributions back.

Also before anyone of you diss Fords, they have a better chassis in most cases, except for My 97 F250 Powerstroke. Everything was great on that truck except for the design flaw in the front suspension. They never compensated for the added weight of the powerstroke and had weak springs.
As one of the former guy described when he hit a hidden rut and bounced in the air. I did the same on Qiuntana beach in Texas and bounced so high it bent the driver side TTbeam. Ford had a bulletin on that that said "strike through on bumpstops, on powerstroke models" remedy was to add a spring, to the leaf pack.
So if you have a one ton front end with the old Kingpin design and made sure you had strong enough springs, and maybe a after market bumpstop I think your truck should handle the cummins

Bull sh!t. Stop talking out your ass. I took the front and the back over the scale before and after.

Get back to me after you have a few swaps under your belt. :tu:

What ever you say Re Re....you can't argue with Carrol Smith, Or Shelby for that matter. Read some of there chassis engineering books.

Well you go read some books, and i'll keep putting swaps under my belt. :hellox:

I have proof of just how much weight came off the front end with just 6 inches of moving the engine/trans back.

No book is going to change that.

how much?

It was 290lbs less with the heaver engine. And that is at a truck weight scale to weigh each axle. If you look at my swap pictures, you can see just how far forward the GM shifter was by the hole in the carpet. Both engines were the same length, and the rad on the 292 was skinny as hell. I put the dodge 4 core rad in there and the intercooler in the same hole.

It all looks like factory.

I need answers, not arguments. Back to the original things I asked about, does anyone know any other answers

I have no problem helping you, everything you're asking can be done. You need to figure out what you want/need, come up with a game plan and do it.

have you bought the truck? do you have the donor?

ok my answer is do leaf springs with a non driven solid steer axle, you can find a ford or dodge hd axle from a 2wd truck like an f450 or you could take a 3/4 ton front axle, cut the ends off and weld a new piece of dom tubing in there and make your own, but i think the truck will handle it like it is, the way i look at it is: theres a ford ranger with a 6bt in it, its cool....