It's been a LONG time

[Bart_3500]

the choice of engine is a very personal thing.

it's good to pick a power goal that'll last the life of the car, and a budget, and some other goals, and 'tune' your engine platform choice to that.

personally i've never played with LS engines much because my power goals are lower and so is my budget

250-350hp and super cheap? iron 350 sbc platform for sure. tbi is a good option there because it's super cheap, people throw them away at the junk yard.

350+hp? ls platform for sure. it's where all the good performance parts are.

good in between (medium cost, medium power?) lt1 with the right heads and cam, and tune the thing for free

A power and budget engine is what I'm shooting for. As the original 307/2 barrel reported to have 200 H.P. and did fine. One thing for sure is that it wasn't a ticket getter. Being that the new paint job will be a bright red, that attracts attention (both from the public and the LEOs) medium power/budget is a smarter move. Also, this is not the only vehicle in my stable. Included is a '57 Ford Fairlane 500, "3" early Broncos (66, 69 & 75), '91 Z28 Camaro (wife's car), 2002 Ford F350 Long Bed crew cab dually 7.3 dually Powerstroke Diesel, 2017 Ford Flex (another wife's car), 99 Jeep Cherokee (foul weather vehicle) and last but not least is my 2013 Harley Electrica Glide Classic. I didn't mention a tractor or 2 boats or the 12' truck bed mounted camper. All this keeps me hopping, especially when one of them goes down. Lets not talk about insurance!! Just the mention sends the wife into orbit! Her problem is that she can't decide what to get rid of. Gotta love that girl!
BTW, Sledhead, in her youth she had a '69 GTO (got her an exhibition of speed ticket) and a '57 Ford Fairlane 500. So she's kind of a gear head also. Lucky ME!!!
So anyway, back to the main theme of this. I'm leaning towards the 350 with the Vortec heads and TBI. I also have a 700R4 trans sitting in the wings that may go in to make for highway cruising.
I too have always loved the 327 setup.
1project, how many Jasper engines have you dealt with?
We have a unique wrecking yard here in West Texas in that I can just drive my vehicle in and go find what I want. Kinda like honesty is the by word here. Some may try to screw them over but I don't want to abuse it. I don't know if they are watching, but I know GOD is watching (another "don't want to mess around there").

[Sledhead2]

Note you do not need to focus on GM vortex heads, they are prone to cracks and some other minor problems.

All after market heads are based on Vortex design now, thus buy new heads might be cheaper and easier in long run. Also most aftermarket heads come with both intake manifold bolt patterns. If you didn't know vortex heads do not have same intake bolt pattern as classic small block.

The Options are endless: https://www.google.com/search?q=vort...t=gws-wiz-serp


I bought these: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/d...QaAoKqEALw_wcB

[Bart_3500]

At $1300 for the pair I don't think they are inexpensive. A friend "gave" me a pair of Vortec heads that should serve me just fine. There's a lot of intake choices out there. If I 'ever' get done with this sprinkler system repair (sceptic tank installers cut all three lines feeding the front yard), then covered everything up and left it. That was before I purchased the house and didn't know what happened for a while. What with all the vehicle repairs, maintenance, and moving in (looking for everything) I haven't had time to think about sprinklers until now. Thanks for the reply and the thoughts.
I am leaning towards getting another 307 crank and making the 350 into a 327.

[1project2many]

1project, how many Jasper engines have you dealt with?

Probably 8-10 over a 20 year period. Not a huge number by any means.

[Bart_3500]

Do you know if Jasper would/will build a semi custom engine? That is, use the 350 block, with Vortec heads and a 307 crank.

[1project2many]

I am not sure about having a custom engine built. They have a page that talks about "Custom Engines" but it seems to be about having an original engine rebuilt just like it was new, and about getting the rebuilder documentation with it.

I tried looking up a 327 using a few different OEM vehicles. They show the engines but there's no prices so I imagine they have trouble getting cores. A 1970 2bbl 350 "basic" engine is tickling $3000 before shipping. You'd get $520 back when you send back a good core but that's still a bunch to have up front.

They do offer some performance packages. There's a 300 hp 350 with Vortec heads that looks like it might be good. I'm having trouble figuring out how to find a price so I'd probably have to call in for one. I believe they only sell to dealers in their network so you'd want to be close to one.

Thinking about this, I realized that Jasper is based in Indiana. Wouldn't it be cheaper in terms of shipping to find a rebuilder that is closer? When I lived in MT we would use S&S Engines. It looks like they've merged with another company and are going by S&J engines these days. Maybe this company is an option?

[Bart_3500]

Thanks for the reply. Some very useful information here. There is a rebuilder out of Dallas/Fort Worth area that advertises around $2K for a rebuild (of my 307). Should be the same for a 350. I believe I'll be looking into that. Since the mechanic (business owner) who suggested Jasper has not called back in several weeks, I guess he forgot about it or ????
Thanks for the thoughts on this.