Sounds to me that you have a nice built little motor there. If you already have the motor set for it, i would use it. However, if your going for origional specs, this isnt a good choice. Get a list of motors available for that year(manuals are good for this) and pick what you want to bolt in. Remember, what makes it a hot rod is doing what you want. Weight isnt a real issue. Your in a corvette. Its fiberglass!