1949 Chevy Fleetline Deluxe - Engine Replacement?

I'm looking at a 1949 Chevy Deluxe that needs a new engine and transmission (but it's only about $400). I'm not amazing with cars, but I have some friends and family that are. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on an engine and transmissions that could easily fit this car and run it well. It's a bit of a hot rod project, but before it looks good, I just want it to run, so amazing parts aren't really required. I have around $1-2k to spend on the engine and transmission by themselves, and around 1k to fit them in(if I need to). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm thinking you may need the engine, trans, and axle. Many of that vintage car had a torque tube driveshaft arrangement. I'm not sure about a '49 Sedan DeLuxe, but my '80 3100 pickup did.

Yes, the '49 Chevys had a torque tube.

Imo the easiest way is to pick up a Chevy 350 and automatic transmission. Quite a lot of fabrication will be required for fuel and coolant lines, shifter and throttle linkage, electrical engine mounts etc.
all of this is pretty easy to do for someone with basic fabrication skills, it just takes a bit of time.
Driveshaft and exhaust fab will require a custom shop to do this, again, pretty straightforward.

I would say check out the custom rodder scene (websites, magazines etc. ) This swap has been done literally thousands of times in the past, and likely there are kits to get a lot of this stuff done.

www.chevsofthe40s.com , or www.nolimit.net , has it all . I'm changing over a 53 belair and they had a lot of thing I needed. Had to change engine mounts , cross member , 78 camaro rear end , rear end relocated with a spring perch off set kit .