SB 302 question?

[Stonecold_dt]

Hi, I am a fairly rounded mechanic as in I can R&R anything, however, I fall short in the area's of bottem ends. I have a 1969 Torino with a stock 302, I believed the head gasket had blown so I figured why not pull and clean up the old girls heart liven it up a tad whilst I was at it. So I pulled the engine cleaned it, bought some things like a cam, intake new holly carb, oil pump... all I wanted was to ensure the engines well being as it ran beautifully other then the white smoke issue.

So I have the engine out on my stand, cleaned, painted and ready to start re assembly when I notice by complete fluke a crack in one of the cylinder walls, so my 1st diagnosis was wrong, head gasket good, motor bad. Now I am very straped on cash right now as I am getting married in June and we just bought a house, but I have heard of guys dropping the bottem end outta one used engine and installing it in another without replacing a thing. Now this sounds a tad strange to me, but I have another late 70's 302 that spun a bearing but all else is good.

So I am asking in short, can I pull my bottem end on my 1968 302, and install it in the 70's 302 with little to no added cost or major risk? Like what shud I look for, be aware of? etc... I just want it to run for a few more years (not a daily driver) untill I can affoard to drop a big block in it!

Thanks and I appreciate any help and suggestions.