Did the same thing to my 76 pinto , removed the engine from my 79 cruzer wagon to overhaul , but changed things along the way ,only I had a comp cam , pn 36-204-4, ck the spec could be almost the same as the isky , then I used the 2.9 crank out of my wife old bronco II( cheep stroker)  , had to machine the nose of it so I could use the gear from the 2.8,  the rods are the same for both engines , the piston I used was for the merk scopero , small dish on top, 9 to 1 compression , you could use the stock 2.8 pistons for over 10 to 1 , also found the heads are not the same for certain years , the 76 had gaskets for the spark plugs , the 79 did not , (taper like the new cars and easyer to find, ) next drill a hole in each head using the hole in the  head gasket  to drill between the exhaust valves , this helps cool the hot spot there, just one hole per head, I made up a TBI injection for mine and used a A4LD trans for the over drive , hope this gives you some ideas on what you can do, later Blaine