mikeh,

if I was in your shoes, and knew I was pulling the engine, I'd be looking for a newer 305 vortech, they have good power, they are heavier then the 2.8 but they have much more power, will turn bigger wheels more readily, they are easy to find, and a heavy duty 231 tcase is what they use on most cheby PU's behind a good tranny known as the 4L60E

always working