No trades at this time
Conversions using the small block Chevy are pretty common, I was surprised about your friends big block. I did this one about 14 years ago and at the time I was pretty much on my own with the big block conversion, I'm sure there were others out there at the time but I could not find them for help when I needed it. The internet was not as assessable as today for projects like this.
Here is a picture of the engine bay I took last night.