Help with choosing /6 build type for newbie

Iam more concered with purr and consistancy than money. Not that iam wealthy i just want the car in symphony as far as operation and performace. I dont want to compromise not on these two. Not that any of us do want our cars to. I just dont want to skimp. I can do body i just want the build to flow and would like to do most of the work myself. Sorry to be redundant. Iam checking out the links above and EFI it seems the way to go looking at other threads. Thanks for the help Iam currently running manual brakes, manual steering and column shift 3 speed. If that helps.

I have lost the patriachs of my family recently and these builds are sort of avatars of them. They where fast reliable workers.
They always tought me there are 3 things a man should always have
1) a good car
2) a good pair of shoes
3) a good bed
4) and if you can a good women because if your not in one your in the other! lol