Best direction for 350 build?

I am getting ready to build a 350 to mate to a Corvette ZF6 tranny.
Will put 'em in something around 3,000 lbs. Looking to get around 400 horses.
If you met a poor guy, thats me. Any suggestions on how to get there without selling my soul is greatly appreciated. Thanks.  

you will definately want to use some decent heads. look on e-bay for adeal but be careful of used stuff. a cam kit from summit will set you back a hundred bucks. their catalog is free online at summitracing.com. a 2 bolt main block will work fine.use a oil pump with a welded pickup. you usually cant go wrong on a used intake. if there are any swap meets in your area,hit them.  

You want to get the bang for your buck. this will require your own labor and a good machine shop. Get a set of heads for the lowest price posible. I recomend vortec heads. When you get them bur out all the sharp edges and smooth out the ports, then gasket match your intake and exhaust ports. Then send them to the machine shop and get bigger valves, studs and gide places put in. your going to need a vortec intake with the vortec heads. That will get you a good set heads for what you need.

now for the short block.
Go out and find a roller block. This block has a roller cam in it. This will save you some money in cam work. Get a good set of bearings, a rotating assembly from eagle (if needed), A good oil pump, a good harmonic balancer, and a good cam.

Take the block and rotating assembly to the machine shop. Get the block decked, line honed, and cylinders bored. Then get the rotating assembly balenced. This will make the motor last along time.

Get a set of fel-pro gaskets and have fun. You should get around 400 to 450 hp. if done right.

good luck  

I have a late 70's block. Bought it running, complete (brackets, alt. and all) for $100. Even got him to throw in an aluminum 1" carb spacer. I was planning on the majority of the money to be spent in the machine shop- .030 over, line bored, decked, etc. I have been looking into Scat & Eagle cranks (Cast), possibly their complete rotating assy. kits. I have heard stock rods could handle up to 500 horses? If so, would save a few bucks. Would one of these cranks with stock rods and 4 bolt main caps(Eagle splayed kit for $100) be a good bottom end? I might want to get crazy with cam & compression.

Also, I am not too familiar with the Vortec heads. Thought it might be cheaper to have my heads done with 2.02 Int, 1.60 Exh. I have not ran head #'s, dont know what size chambers they are, nor had them magnafluxed for cracks. I could really use some suggestions in the head department. I want them to flow. No porting experience and dont want to screw up. Any tips on porting, what grits to use, good compounds, etc.?
Thanks.  

I would get some forged rods saying that the stock rods can handle 500 hp is just a guess because most combos producing that much power usually spin 6500 RPM or more and that is what you need to consider the max. RPM not the hp rating.
The block you have should be just fine the newer roller style blocks are weaker.  
Professional hi-performance engine builder

Horsepower sells Engines and torque wins races.

have an edelbrock performer intake and carb off my 350,  carb has seen less than 1000 miles its 600cfm,  the intake is alumanum,  a bit older but works...believe it was purchased in late 80s-early 90s,  pm me if you are interested i can take pictures  

if you what to run the cast numbers on you block and heads then got to www.mortech.com. As far as the porting with no expiriance, don't go wild with them. Just gasket match them and clean up the ports, there is a sharp edge on the inside elbow where the port and the bowl meet. That sould be smothed out. when gasket matching put the intake and exhaust gaskets up to the heads and then scrib or trace out the dementions. you can do the same for the intake and exhaust mantifolds as well. don't be afraid of doing it, you got the learn somehow. just take your time.
Now you asked and vortec heads and your talking about flow. The vortec heads will flow better than the ones you have and you can do the same to them as I said above.

when it come to the short block work, I would go with the forged. Its more forgiving when running upstairs. Egale make good stuff. when you get the machine work done have the oil passages opened up and get the up graded oil pump as well. When getting your cam do the research on what you want to use the motor for and match it to all your parts. This probly the most important thing you can do. And do'nt just throw it in, use a degree wheel.

hope thiss helps.