$ Building a Slant 6 for performance

I too am new to building a slant 6 to a higher level than a stock rebuild. Of which I've done a couple over the past 30 or so years, nowhere near as many as some of you guys here.
Truth be told, I joined the slant 6 forum some years ago, like many who join a forum, whether it be for a certain car engine or garden tractors or whatever, to sell the original engine out of a car that I had then, figuring that I would have the best chance to do so in a forum with a bunch of people who keep them going and modify them.join, sell, and split.
Slant zilla ended up buying that engine and using it in a dedicated race car. He may still have it.

But, I hung around for the "other topics" that aren't engine specific. Well now a year ago, I tripped upon my present truck that I had assumed from seeing it sit-in the PO's yard that it had a v8 in it, was surprised to see that it doesn't. I came back to the/6 site for help finding the missing parts I would need to see if that engine would run. I got it going. And undid some past owner neglect and wiring harness butchery, once I knew I had a running truck.
That car that I wanted to sell the engine from is still here, I had grand plans to build a hot street small block for it, like everyone else. The car still sits in the corner. Still don't have the V8 in it yet either. But I definitely plan to get there.
I have had a couple of trucks with a slant 6 in them, one I wasn't able to keep very long due to life (I had wrecked my 87 dodge van and no money to fix, I made a deal with the body shop to fix the van straight up for my 69 D100) . Not a proud moment.
Working on newer crap at my job, I realized how bad I missed the durability, simplicity and looks of an 80s D/W series of truck/ of which I've had a few. I watched this 85 sit, and sit, and sit some more. I had been wanting to stop and ask about it for a few years, but every time I went by, it seemed like there was no life around the house where it sat.
One day, I was going thru that town on my way somewhere else, and now there was a for sale sign in front of it. And now it's mine. I think that the fact that my son bought an 80 D150 with a slant 6 in it a few months before I got my 85, that he had asked me to help him with in gettin' running as best as I could, helped me decide to leave this 85 a slant.
I've swapped a 318 into a 79 D100 before, and I remember having to find a truck pan, truck mounts, truck bell housing, truck radiator for that 318.
After hanging around several mopar sites, and reading about what some of you guys have actually done with your slant 6's and that they still hold together as well as they did in stock form (except for the most extremely wild builds) plus the V8s of the time really weren't all that powerful anyway, that I could build a slant that would at least match the HP of the V8s of the time that my truck could have had. Plus less weight, plus not having to find all those V8 conversion parts (or another truck to sit around as I robbed it of the parts I'd need to convert this one) would leave me more $$$ left that could be put back into another slant 6 to build it better than the ones I just did a stock rebuild on 20-30 years ago. I didn't have to be in a hurry, as this time the truck wouldn't be competing for garage time vs having to be back together for work the next day, meant I could take time and pluck deals as they popped up, not having to pay prevailing prices for the parts I would pick to go into it.
I have 1 problem though at this point. Too much info. I am stuck between 2 ideas for my build.
For lack of a better way to describe it, I figured that the best way to build my engine would be to follow the Covalt's and Dad truck's truck engine builds, and model mine after their trials and results. Dad truck is a member here under a different name, I don't know if the Covalt's are here but they are people who I know from the /6 site just like Charlie. But parts of me are wanting to build it as a home brew, junkyard sourced draw thru turbo setup with some parts made right here at home like mounts, flanges and such.
But I also know that the best parts combo for each one aren't the best parts combo for the other idea that I have. I know that I want to keep it carbureted for simplicity, and I want to drive this truck daily once done in seasons that don't involve snow, ice and salt. Also to use to load up with camping and fishing gear, hook my popup to the ball and haul it to my yearly August campout in ohio and the covered bridge festival 2-1/2 hours away in October. Mean time it's hurry up and wait for the block and crank to get out of machine shop jail, finish porting the head while hoping not to draw water into the chamber before I hand the head off for finishing.