You mentioned LS1 as your comparison, are you speaking of the Gen III smallblock or the original 350? There are some very trick combinations available for the Gen III and Gen IV (LS2-LS7) motors, including some pretty wild superchargers and turbos. The LS2 crate motor is just a little over $6k and has 400rwhp out of the box. That's one heck of a starting point. Just having the LS1 goes a long ways towards having something different compared to the 350 SBC.

Pat