Under $4k budget build LA360 build

Captainkirk said
Well, as for taking a long time to build...hell; I'm the King of Longevity. (My resto has been going on since 2005 and the car has been parked since 1982, if you've seen my resto thread.) In that time period I've changed it up and shifted gears numerous times, each time costing me addition money (sometimes a lot) so I understand that aspect! It's best to formulate a plan right at the beginning WRT HP and ET requirements, car purpose (cruiser, show car, occasional strip car, etc) Quite honestly, you'll get great advice here on the forum, some as good as the slew of books out there, and some even better. Since you have chosen a bottom end for your build, let's start there...block, crank, rods and pistons. Do you know what you have yet, and are you planning on using them as-is or do you have upgrades planned?

47 page thread starting on a cold night in 2006... Man, I wish mine was a ‘72. Lol. I’ll read through it over time!

My friend is picking up the .40 over core, regrinded crank and heads today at 4 central time. He’s going to report back to me before handing over the cash. From what ms been discussed though, it was all ready to start a build in March last year, before he decided to go the Blueprint route. I’m hoping it is what he says it is, otherwise I’m overpaying(considering the delivery fee) quite a bit. After 4 conversations with him, doing a background check(I did this because he was initially going to ship it and wouldn’t accept PayPal) and seeing pics, I believe him. A suckers born everyday though and I might just be that sucker right now. My first thought was to go with stock rods and either Keith Black 107’s or Power Pro pistons H116CP. After some thought and reading your post about the machining cost of used pistons, I think I’ll be going to with the Eagle SIR6123cb’s. I really don’t want to spend $900 though to complete the bottom end on this thing. I’m hoping to get lucky and find someone selling a set here for cheaper. There’s a set of the h116cp’s with rings on FABO for $300 shipped. Too bad they’re .30 over, but it gives me hope that I can get lucky and find a cheaper route. I don’t want to skimp on the bottom end and in the end, I’ll do what makes sense quality wise over cost, for the sake of longevity of the engine. I need to order a 360 rebuild kit. Mancini has one for $420 that comes with Rod bearings, Main bearings, Cam Bearings, Freeze Plugs, Oil Pump, Gasket Set, Moly Rings and Cast Power Pro Pistons. I need to find out what pistons they are, but it seems like a good deal as long as they’re not the 405CP’s.