Thanks Glenn!! The pic and cost is very helpful. I see a lot of the old school hot rods running the tunnel ram, as you said they are not good (a real dog at street rpms) but look cool? I will be talking to the machinist this week and get what his ideas are for my build. I will share them here and see what you guys say.

The casting number on my block is 3963512, researching it I found it's from 1969-1971 (I was told it came out of a 71' Chevelle). The guy told me it was a 425 hp, but not sure how to verify that.

Looking at complete crate BBCs, pretty expensive. Although I really don't know the best places to look, Chevrolet Performance, Summit, Jegs, all over $10g.