Couldn't NOT buy it...

Excellent deal! You definitely need a sb or bb swap. I put a 440 in my 55. I don’t know if the 53 is similar underneath, I suspect that it is.

Rustyhope sells disc brake conversions that use a volare rotor and gm metric caliper, a Ford Explorer 8.8 is the right width ( both of these are in mine). I have also seen Dakota, volare and (gasp, don’t do it) gm car front clips grafted into these cars.