also alot of people suggest replacing plugs and wires (use ngk plugs and OEM wires) As for year, easiest way to go is find an OBD1 engine. You can you a obdII engine but there are about 5 more steps to do, not a big deal but obdI is the easiest thing to do. Yea your hot rod body will laugh at how easy it is, let his experience work for you, it is not like a tractor dude working on a rocket engine, they are both 4 cycle engines, you know one, you know the other (kinda) No you cant uses your tranny, you have to buy a hydralic (sp?) b series tranny. Normally they always provide trannys with complete swap packages. You also need shift linkages, mounts from verious b series enigines (dont know the list off hand) or you can spend a little extra money and go for a non OEM mount kit (3-400) The Ls engine is a good beginners engine and if you ever want to go to turbo, it is a cheap, easy, and good engine to boost with. If you have any more questions ask away, i am sure i missed a few that you had (sorry i am tired)