Cost of a swap

The first swap I did was in my 71 Swinger. Picked up a wrecked 2001 Ram 2500 for $1200. Front end was totaled out, but everything else was great. Pulled the motor and trans, and every single wire harness out, including the dash. Also pulled the heater/ac box, gauge cluster and HVAC controls, and the fuel pump from the tank. Once it was stripped out, I put what was left on Craigslist and sold it for $800. So at this point I only have $400 invested. Bought a set of Schumacher motor mounts for $150, and set of tti headers for $700. I went thru the harnesses and deleted the evap, abs, and airbag crap myself, and shortened it up so it would fit the engine compartment and not have wires strung all over the place. All in after buying a condenser and shortening the driveshaft, miscellaneous bits here and there I was right around $1600 total invested. Now I had a car with modern efi, overdrive trans, and air conditioning! Not bad. As long as you can do the majority of the work yourself, it can be done for cheap.