Originally posted by mad hooker
swiftser, now you got me thinkin, besides buying a complete engine, what do you think would be the best bet . what i want is a long block, and i want to put in a like a comp 268 cam,headers and a new intake, i already have the cam. i can spend around 2000 for the long block, i need something that can handle more power, around 350 hp with having to pay for balancing and swapping pistons, just putting in a cam and the other parts.
I gave you my thought. Sell your cam and use that to fund a ZZ4. It already comes with the intake, distributor, water pump and vibration dampner. This engine also has aluminum heads vs. the cast iron heads on the 290 HP engine. It has 10 to 1 pistons, yada, yada, yada.

I look at this stuff from a financial perspective, not a pride factor. I don't have a problem building an engine from scratch, but a good $500-$1000 donor is a better starting point than a $2400 long block. And a $3500-$4000 engine is more cost effective than what you are proposing above.