This page is dedicated to Bill, Jeff and Joe
With out there help this engine swap would have never been possible

Thanks to Bill, Jeff, and Joe for all the work they did to make this engine swap possible. My 1986 van had about 70,000 miles on it.  Not that many miles but the engine started smoking bad and needed a valve job. We decided to rebuild  a used 4.3 core that was turned in to make the swap go faster.   With Bill's guidance I dissembled the engine core. 

Joe sent the heads out for a regrind, While we waited for those to come back we worked and cleaned the block, pistons and rods.
With a lot of help from Bill, Jeff and Joe we reassembled the block.

After getting tips from all of them about the replacement procedures I brought the van in on a Friday after work and started to drain the fluids and disconnect wires, cables, hoses etc. By 9pm I had the sub-frame removed from the van.

With the sub-frame on the floor it made the engine swap almost easy. I had to swap intake and exhaust manifolds from the original engine along with A/C compressor power steering pump and other components.

I worked all day Saturday removing the old engine components and reinstalling them onto the rebuilt engine. I then replaced the engine into the sub-frame.  By Sunday morning all I had left to do was lower the van back onto the sub-frame, connect all the wiring harnesses, hoses, cables and fuel lines.
With the help of some pictures I had taken before I removed the original engine I was able to figure out where everything went.  By 3pm I  had everything connected and was ready to test fire the engine so I turned the ignition key and with only a short crank the engine fired up. 

It was an awesome feeling to have actually swap out the engine myself and for it to have started on the first try. Not bad for a old parts guy.

Most of the mechanics where surprised when they came in on Monday to find that the engine swap was actually complete. And even more so that the van actually ran and that I was the one who did it.