[beautimus]

just alittle food for thought. the truck motors of our era do not have the vin number stamped into them like the cars do. if you tear the original engine apart and find that the block is indeed toast, find another block with the same 3 letter suffix from another truck of the same year. and presto, you are still original.
you can't do that with a camaro or a vette but with a truck you can kinda get away with it. just sayin. whatever you decide to do , best of luck to you, tony