Thanks for the information guys. Like I said my thoughts are to try to find a known good transmission and install it while the truck is in mockup. That way I can get the wiring sorted out for the LU/OD and get an idea about what the engine will like for stall.

As light as the truck will ink the truck be and especially with the 4.56s I really don’t the truck will need or want a lot of stall, but you never know until you can drive them.

Once I get everything dialed in I’ll be taking the truck apart for paint and body and at that time looking at going thru the transmission for at least a shift kit or possibly a rebuild. Are there any other shift kit recommendations for a shift kit other than a Transgo?

The gutting a diesel trans and putting the internals into a 318/360 case sounds interesting. I have a good bare case sitting in the truck now. I assume the years I would be looking for would be the same as for the ones going behind a gas engine? Is this a straight transfer of internals or are there other mods that need to be made?