Start with a 351 W you get more CID right off the bat and a much stronger block. do a good rebuild get some good rods let say some brand of H beams and a good forged piston. Good heads I like TFS High Ports with some mild port work a good turbo cam and a turbo kit with nothing smaller then 76mm. blow 18-20psi of boost on it and make 650-700 hp build the rest of the car to handle the HP and you man are set. heck even out of the box TFS High Ports or the Fast as cast heads will work just fine or even the TFS TW. you don't need super heads with a turbo set up. A c4 with a 3500 stall a set of 331 or 327 rear gears. The C4 can hold good power and are much cheaper then a AOD you said a weekend car so no real need for OD. put a roll bar in it you are gone to need it at the track. you will burn through 8000 pretty fast doing a turbo car. But if you shop right buy used when you can you could do it. If I had to do it all over again I would have started with a 351 based block.

 

Good luck with the build! I'm sure your son would enjoy doing anything with you on the car; even if it's only Armor All'ing the tires & then watching you go down the track IMHO...

 

After your post Uedlose I did some reading on nthe 351W and I think I am gonna head that direction since it is a stronger block and can produce good HP with little mods.

Now, knowing I am a car noob and don't know what I am looking at, I am leaning towards purchasing a crate motor to make sure I get that is going to last. Is this a good idea or would I be spending money on something I could have done for half the price? I still am leaning towards some type of turbo and I know I am pushing my budget.

Are my wants going beyond a street car and well beyond my 8K budget?

 

As for getting a GT just for the suspension, don't think like that. Yes you would want to start with a 5.0 based car for ease but either way you will be redoing suspesion, brakes and rear anyway to be safe. I would try to find a close to stock 5.0 in decent condition and expand that way so you don't have to search for little parts, especially since you don't know your way around the car really.

 

I build my own stuff and like the one on one I get from my local machinist and if some thing goes wrong then I can get to him fast not that anything ever has. there is nothing wrong with a crate engine. get it from a reputable builder make sure you get forged pistons when you order it. they can take more abuse then the Hypereutectics can. So you don't take a piston out if the tune is a bit off when you are first starting out. while you might not be able to put a turbo on at first due funds have it built or build it for boost you may give up a bit of power N/A but you don't want to have to do things twice. you can pick up a used turbo kit if you keep a eye out I seen one for a 351 the other day for like $2000 and it had everything less injectors and fuel system. You want to keep the compression down I would say around 9 to1 you could go 9.5 but I like to keep it down and then run more boost. Get a cam ground for a turbo set up put it in now once again so you don't have to do it twice. I use Cam Motion for my turbo cam. but your builder may want to use his own supplier they may even use Cam Motion. they are very poplar with the turbo crowd for a reason. but they do all kinds of cams for everything on the road. is there any local Machine shops around you that have a good name? you may want to talk with them and have them price you out a engine. lots of time they can get close or even beat crate engine pricing. But at the same time if you go that way talk with them see if they are knowledgeable with a turbo/ Boosted engines they can be very different then N/A engines.