Real world swap cost

Given the fact that if I had the parts lying around, (which I don't at the moment) I would convert it in a heartbeat.
The trick is to do it cleanly and neatly, save the original pieces, cut the floor cleanly and precisely, don't go overboard tacking the 4 speed hump in.
Don't worry about welding in the frame pivot bracket to stay, more than 1 or 2 auto cars have them already installed and never got a stick shift tranny.

It all boils down to this, if you want to enjoy the car and numbers matching is keeping you from doing it, do you REALLY enjoy the CAR, or are you just hung up on it's VALUE??

By the way, a modern 5 speed Mustang is pretty representative of what a 4 gear in a V-8 A body is like, so if you liked the Mustangs, you'll LOVE the 4 speed 340 A bodies.

Mark.