10's on $5,000 ?

PRH said
My course of action would be:

-plenty of cam
-plenty of stall
-plenty of gear

:steering:

I'd start with a chassis , get all the basics, springs, shocks, tires, etc. something to work with !
the rest is just a simple big block recipe with the right gear and converter .
There is a bunch of et in the chassis. Oh and BTW make it safe. :D