a sad day for my ghia 914 questions

last night on my way home i blew up my engine. i am very sad. my ghia "betty" knew it was coming. and she tried to hod on but couldn't any longer. so she has made her last drive under my ownership. her body was pretty toast any way.
the question now is "what next?"
i may be given an old 914. i dont know the condition of the car only that it runs and moves. now a few weeks ago i picked up a 58 bug shell and need a ride soon. i would like to mod the bug for the 914 engine and trans.....
if i flip the ring and pinion to change the direction of tire spin, how bad would it be to install the 914 trans into a later irs bug pan? then i could use a bunch of my ghia parts in the beetle(front disks and such) i don't want to use the ghia trans because it was an auto stick. see then i could keep the original pan stock and still have a play toy for the street
is this biting off more than average joe ugly could do?
what should i do
oh yeah if the 914 is in decent shape i will just drive that until i do the bug