OP, it's obvious from your posts that you have limited mechanical knowledge and/or capabilities and the pathway I see you going down is the same I see a lot of people take of which usually ends up with lots of dollars spent, disappointment, unfinished projects or selling for pennies on the dollar.
Take a step back before jumping between 'squeezing every last horsepower out the 350' and having something between 'a race car and cruising'. It sounds like your expectations going into this were somewhat skewed and now you're reacting to the disappointment. It also sounds like the large majority of your driving will be cruising on the highway and around town so I have to question why something between a race car and cruising (I might call this a street/strip build) is necessary? I also have to question why squeezing every last bit of horsepower out of your 350 is necessary? Do you understand what is involved in that statement? Big compression, expensive aftermarket heads, big camshaft and high dollar valvetrain, good flowing intake, high dollar quality carburettor or EFI, etc etc etc... oh and don't forget everything else down the line to support this such as an upgraded fuel system, cooling system, built transmission, built differential.... the list can go on forever. For what you want -
FORGET THIS MENTALITY. You do not want that.
If you want more speed, go for taller diff gears and compromise acceleration... if you want quicker acceleration, go for shorter diff gears and compromise top speed and highway cruising, but again, I don't think this is what you want, which is the next important point here. If you're going to be largely dealing with shops to get work done on your car, you need to understand what it is you're asking for otherwise no shop will ever produce the ideal outcome for you. From your posts, I'm guessing you want a bit more low-mid range torque that puts you into your seat when you stab the accelerator but most importantly, need usability for highway/around town cruising.
The good news is that what you're after is a pretty mild engine combination. The even better news is you have a few ways to achieve what you want. The bad news is that if you can't do the work yourself, you're going to be up for thousands upon thousands of dollars. Laying out the facts, you have two options I see here:
- Modify current 350 to requirements
- Buy and install new crate engine
In terms of modifying your current 350, firstly, you need to work out exactly what you have. If you've got some smog era 2-bolt main low compression 350, I would strongly consider ending this path at this point as getting any decent horsepower and torque out of this engine will be nothing short of complete disassembly, machine work, replacement of many components.... a full rebuild essentially. If by some good luck, you have a good 350 with decent compression and good heads, you could probably get away with a mild camshaft swap (and associated valve train), a good intake and carburettor, a set of headers and a decent 2.5" exhaust. Compliment the engine work with a diff ratio swap to 3:73 and I'm confident you'll have exactly what you're after - a bit more acceleration off the line but also the perfect cruiser around town and on the highway.
The crate engine option is a suggestion thrown around often on this forum and for good reason. If your 350 is a low-performance factory variant that realistically needs major work, there isn't much point investing this money in the rebuild when you can buy a brand new crate engine for relatively cheap these days. Furthermore, even if you want to modify your existing 350, you'll need to weigh up the cost of parts plus factor in the delays with getting a lot of aftermarket parts these days. Take a look at Blueprint Engines. Many on this site have used them with excellent results and their small block range is plentiful and starts around $4,000 and goes up from there... not bad value all things considered. Something around a nice 400hp/400 ft-lbs of torque will get you where you want and careful selection will mean you don't need to start pouring money into transmission, differential, fuel system, cooling system, etc, upgrades. I would however still recommend the 3:73 diff gears.
Most importantly, and especially because you will be susceptible to paying labour rates if you're not doing the work yourself... what is your budget? What are you willing to spend all up? This alone will dictate your pathway more than anything else. Give us an idea about what you're happy to spend and we can guide you down the right pathway.
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