wow thanks for all the info and being so detailed.

the rebuild is on the 87 YR32-LV MRBEA, as far as i can tell this is the bare bones of the lot, no a/c, no cruise, etc.
the engine and tranny is coming out of 88YR31-LV MQEA an LE and what i would consider "loaded" as far as these vans.
so i think i will be using the top end of simpler engine.(what ever i have to use to match ecu)

though the doner engine has only 196k on it, i am going to do a complete rebuild on motor (cylinder, head, etc.) i am taking the advice from previous post and going to take it a performance oriented shop for honing and such.

do you have a ballpark number on cost for performance rebuild?

a question on the transmissions:
as i stated, the rebuild van has 386k on it and i am planning on swapping tranny also. my plan is to drop newer tranny when i pull engine,
and wanted to take it to have it looked at and make sure its in decent shape, before i pull other tranny, have it serviced and then when i pull the other engine out drop that tranny and swap. my question is on this procedure, i am hoping with engine out the tranny will just be linkage, driveline, couple hard lines, a few plugs and mounts? I want to put a new clutch in,(are new clutches still available?) so i was just gonna have shop put tranny and clutch in at same time as i am not well versed with clutches, know there relatively easy if your just putting new one in and tranny is dropped.i am gonna be at the end of my budget with rebuild so there is good chance i will just be doing clutch/tranny myself. Also wondering on the difficulty of swapping transmission, because even with high mileage since it is a manual i may just leave tranny in and swap engine only (PO said it was in working order and clutch was decent). This way i would be able to have old transmission rebuilt with more time and money and just have for back-up.
Sorry thats pretty confusing, main question is whats approximate time and parts on a transmission swap for me to do myself? is it substantially more efficient to do both tranny and engine together? WIth engine out clutch should be a breeze?

I think i am definitely just gonna do aftermarket tach, thats pretty cheap and relatively easy right? (sorry didnt look at thread yet)

So a simpler question for ya (sorry if i am a PITA)

I finally scored the factory "bed" seats, the kind with the 2 seater in middle that slides forward then folds back to connect to rear bench.
i noticed that there are two channels in the floor to take the recievers. In my other van that is stripped down i could only see one of the channels i am assuming that the other is there but just covered by "torch down"floor insulation.
questions:
do all bodies have reciever channels for fold down "bed"style middle bench seat? (all mine had captains seats originally)

Is this middle seat supposed to be removable with lever just like rear bench seats? (on the one i took it out of on inside latch there was a bolt that seemed to be retrofit)

do you have the plastic trim piece that covers bottom of this seat? (passenger side)

thanks again for all your info and the time you put into answering my questions.
hopefully i have obtained enough info to this point to give you a break for a while
happy holidays
steve