I had wanted to wait till my 2.9 was tired again (about 50k on the low end and less than 10k on the top end.) but the tranny (auto/overdrive) went belly up. Truck sat for a year or so after tranny rebuild only had about 15k on it. I found the newer cast 2.9 heads and got it back on the road. Even though the tranny only has around 50k on it, the below zero weather in Northern IL/Southern WI and the time it sat idle made all forward gears go bye-bye.
I know it wouldn't stand up to the torque of a small block which is why I didn't do the swap earlier on.

So...I am considering speeding up my eventual plans to drop a newer small block and tranny in it's place.

There used to be kits available but I keep hitting dead ends.

I would be happy if someone could just point me in the right direction.

I haven't driven it for 3 weeks and I'm having withdrawal already.

Also, could consider a parts truck to tide me over...