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I have a surprisingly rust free 1994 K3500 Sierra with a full size bed, duallys, a cab bigger than some apartments I've rented and a bad 454 under the hood. I plan to use it here on the ranch as well as pulling gooseneck trailers over the road occasionally. Probably including a flatbed with a backhoe on it occasionally. But I'm wondering what I should do about this bad engine and was hoping to get the opinions of some folks who know more about these things than I do. The existing engine is (or was) a L19 engine 7.4L(7.4N),V8 (TBI) (MARINE) 7.4N(L19) according to the VIN decoder I used. It's geared 4.10 with a 4L80-E with OD. I know there are some little differences between the 454s by model year and intended use and I'm trying to find out what they are and how to shop for them. I'm not above buying a core to have rebuilt, or even another whole junk truck for the donor parts I need to put this together. I'm pretty handy with a wrench and a soldering iron but my training as a machinist a few decades ago tells me that I'm better off having someone else do the machine work now. Would something out of a motor home be more reliable for me? Is there a difference in the way they are made within the same model years? Would it be worth my time, for the sake of power and efficiency, to get a whole truck with a vortec in it and swap out the ECU? Are there questions I should be asking that I haven't? Are there any sites online that might already have answers to these questions that I haven't found yet?