hey man, there would've been nothin wrong with a 352, those are very tough engines, i moved all my furniture from one house to another with my old ranger running a 352 with cam that was broke in half and a bad carb, and that thing still ran like a champ, plus it was also pretty fast, i could easily break the tires loose when the cam was in one piece....plus the old Y blocks tended to have a lot of torque, and torque is a good thing