I've got a 350 in my 1980 chevy heavy half ton. I just bought the truck and the engine is getting to be pretty old. I plan on overhauling the truck. I've got a few of the basics done and now I am wanting to do the engine/transmission before I get to much farther. the transmission is a pretty newly rebuilt th350 with lockup torque converter. Has twelve bolt rear end and 3.08 gears. I was going to get a new block but decided to go cheaper with the one it has. As far as I know it is the original block which I would think is a 2 bolt main. This is my first project and engine build. I want it to be slightly more wild than mild. ATLEAST around 325 horsepower and 375 torque. But would prefer more in the 400hp and 450tq range. I like it pretty loud and have a nice thump and rough idle to it. However I want to have somewhat of a guess on my parts and such before I pull the motor and get into it. So assuming it's a two bolt main how much would that affect me making more power in the engine? what should I try and keep the power under to be safe. I plan on doing in this in the next 3 months or so. I want to stay under $2,000 and the cheaper the better. I could go above but would like to stay in budget. Needs to be pretty reliable too. And have it run on pump gas too. I am thinking I will need to get it bored .030 or .040 over. What would be an estimate on the cost of that? Is there any other machine work that I might need/consider? I think I am going to run edelbrock performer rpm heads, camshaft, and intake. Just to know I will have a good combo. Other than that I am not sure what to do and what additional parts are needed and what, if anything, I can reuse. I do have a performer eps intake now that I would like to reuse and save money if I could. As well as a brand new edelbrock 600 carb that I would like to use if only temporarily or just sell. So basically I need opinions and information on what other parts I need and what should I consider purchasing to be making the power I want for under my budget. Estimated figures on power and price would be nice. Thanks for all your help! especially if you read all of this! Oh and also would kind of stall converter would I be needing? Could I get away with stock? I need to have this setup complete and all the components of the drive train to be able to work together. I will not be needing any accessories (alternator, etc.), valve covers, or an aircleaner. I also have brand new HEI distributer, headers, and flowmasters. I know that some of this also depends on what I find once I get in there and tear it down but give me a rough guesstimate. Also 3.73 gears or so and shift kit are planned on being put in a little later or about the same time.