Just as a follow up, turns out the guy had to move the firewall back, fabricate custom motor mounts and torque bars (it was RWD after all), etc. etc. He races it up at sears point out here in Cali. Definately not as simple as my friend made it out to be. I'm steadily learning not to trust anybody I meet in real life.

*strokes his computer* you're the only one I can trust...