1973 340 budget build.

While there are better qualified members than me Ill post what I now. You didnt state your goal. But by the term "budget" Im thinking you want a punchy gutsy reliable engine with as many as the oem parts from this engine reused as is possible. You already have a cam. You also want the compression of a 1968-1971 340. So you want a zero deck piston which KB and another company (Sealed Power) both have in an affordable cast construction. Make sure your cam will work with a zero deck- (Higher compression) piston. Comp Cams has a line of cams that are meant to work with a low static compression engine and if you run this cam with a zero deck piston you may have unusably high cyl psi. Your block is bored .020 over? Is this a size a replacement piston is available in?? Your heads- a 1.88 intake valve will be fine in a mild application. Sure the 2.02 will make more power up top BUT you must pay to punch out/ enlargen head for 2.02 valve. Then the machinist should run a cutter into the bowl and elargen it as well. Then new seat ground in. Many have done it but do you want to spend the $$? The 1.88 size valve is not a hinderance on a MILD 340.