Can of worms

[hound dog]

Procrastinator,
The best engine to start with would be a small block 302 or 351 UNSTROKED. It's a little harder to find a 351 in the junkyard to rebuild but it should be worth it. Most 302/351 parts interchange so upgrades would be easy to get around 500 HP at some time in the future. The worst engine to use would be the 390. What a dog! Most can't outrun a good 250 hp 327 Chevy and parts are not easy or cheap! You asked!
h dog

[jschiller]

Procrastinator

My experience building an ERA with a 351-C tells me not to do it again. Beautiful engine and hooked right up to my toploader, plenty of power, reasonable HP/weight ratio, but NO obtainable downtubes to mate with the sidepipes. I don't weld so I had to cut and fit pre-bent tubing and take to a welder to have them fabricated. Cost me six months of build time and was very disheartening to see a nearly complete car that could not run. Also they looked pretty ugly after all the patching. Whatever engine you plan to use, MAKE SURE there are header pipes to fit! Good Luck.

John