New to the forum and to A-bodies - advice on a build direction

it's a slant car, so really you could go in any direction. selling the 340/trans combo to fund out part of a G3 swap or holding onto it for a future build is always a possibility.

in the interest of building something that would probably appeal to the widest base, i'd say keep the 340 and go EFI on it backed up with an OD automatic transmission. keep it stock torsion bar with upgraded components, throw some decent brakes and good shocks at it with sway bars so it handles nice. keep the wheels mellow and try and stay toward a classic look. upgrade the interior with some nice buckets and if you go away from stock gauges, keep it classic looking. upgraded wiring with LED's is always a plus.

i think something like that would not only give you the opportunity to showcase your talents with some subtle one off parts and nice engineering touches, but would be a fairly straight forward build that would likely sell easy and you wouldn't be gobs and gobs of cash into it should you need to get out from under it.