Hi y'all

my rangers tranny finally bit the dust. I am trying to figure out the best route to take. The motor was recently replaced as well as many other components so I am set on keeping the truck. I have talked about doing an automatic to manual swap since i first bought the truck 5 years ago. I know there is multiple posts on here about how to go about this. For finding parts for the swap will anything from 87-92 fit as long as its 2wd? or does engine size also matter when looking at parts? also any tips on doing this on a budget I am a broke college kid probably going to be spending a lot of time at scrap yards looking for parts. Any other modifications I should look at doing while I have the truck jacked up and pulled apart, I was thinking about straight piping it just for the kicks of it. any help you guys could send my way would be greatly appreciated.