I posted this in General, but thought I'd try here too.
A guy on another board is swapping a 1999 239 V6 and a 5 speed manual trans into a rod. I asked him why not a V8.
He replied
"I thought about a 318 and searched for one and all I could ever find at a good price were for automatics ( sellers words ). I guess that means that the crank was never bored for the bearing. Why else would they say that? I started pricing all of the things I need like a flywheel, clutch package and whatever it takes to hang all the accessories on the 318 if the 239 is different. The costs started climbing fast... "

IIRC, the later stuff uses a big bearing that fits all the cranks, and everything should transfer over to the 5.2 on each end (trans, clutch, front accessories).
Am I right or am I wrong?
I'd like to tell him it will work, but only if it really will.

the 3.9 is a 318 with 2 cyls cut off. a 318 will bolt up to a 3.9 tranny. IIRC the 3.9 is internally balanced, so the clutch/flywheel should work, too.

if using a manual, though, I'd use at least an NVG3500...I don't know if I'd trust an NVG1500 or aisin AX15 behind even a stock 318.

Okay, that confirms what I thought on the swap ability, and I guess he shouldn't put a V8 in front of the trans.
Thanks.

P.S. He got the donor free, so that's why it's not a V8.