Help in So Cal

You'll be fine on your own if need be. Your combination is probably the most swap friendly combo. The truck front assembly tucks everything up tight and high on the engine so there's no hassle with frame clearance for AC pump, alternator, etc.

The 45RFE tranny is one of my favorites, but I believe you'll need to add some clearance for it to your trans hump and build or modify your mount cross member. The AlterKtion is your best friend with regard to adding good clearances around it all so you can add some TTI headers. No denting of header tubes required for clearance and rattle free operation.

There's enough of us performing these swaps that I think you could ask any question you have and there's somebody here that has had experience with that aspect of your swap. We're all using various combinations in our swaps. There's probably not two swaps that are the same.

I would caution you, as with any internet forum, there's people who do a lot of reading on various forums, etc. and pass on information as if they know it factually when it is often incorrect. Try to find people with actual hands on experience of the particular part of the swap that you have questions about.

I did just remember there's a guy in SoCal that put pretty much your same combo in a '69 Cuda. The car was a green color and he painted it a copper color, (I think it was GoManGo as used on the 2005 Ram Daytona). If you can track down that car and owner, I'm sure he can be of great help to you...