If you plan carefully and do everything yourself shy of machine shop labor, you can have a pretty decent build for $3k. I don't think a stroker build will be in your budget, though. My 331 build ran me upwards of $5k, although that probably includes some extra goodies that went elsewhere on the car, and some extras on the motor that I didn't really need.

A 289 is a good base to start from. Have the machine shop recondition your stock rods and install some ARP rod bolts. Pick up ARP hardware for everything; main bolts, head bolts, and an entire motor hardware kit. Obviously you'll need them to check bore taper, bore the cylinders if needed, and install new cam bearings and expansion plugs. Get screw-in oil galley plugs installed while they're at it, if they're not already there.

Hypereutectic pistons are an economical choice for a motor that isn't going to see boost or high-compression use. They're stronger than cast but cheaper than forged. I've got them in my 350hp 331 build. No complaints. They also allow for a tighter bore fit for reduced piston slap when things are cold. Make sure you tell the machine shop what kind of pistons you're using before they bore the cylinders out.

It might not be a bad idea to have the rotating assembly balanced. 289's like to wind up, and vibration issues get much worse at higher rpm's. A good balance will likely run $175-225, but you'll appreciate it down the road when you can wind the motor to 7k without vibrations tearing things apart.

Heads are crucial. I'd budget for some good aluminum heads. I have a set of Trick Flow Twisted Wedge Street/Strip heads that I'm very happy with. They allow a lot of lift without clearance issues, and they have better flow under .500" lift than many other heads. Stock heads are a big bottleneck on a performance motor. You can build them to flow well and take better valvetrain hardware, but it's more cost effective to simply buy new heads.

 

I started with a similar budget in mind and built what I wanted. I used my original 289 that was already stock rebuilt to .030 at an unknow mileage with unknown parts. I wanted to keep the 289 in it as the majority of cars local to me have been converted to 302's and EFI so a 289 is more rare for me and a minority.

I bought some used good cond. AFR165's, a Weiand Stealth (port matched to heads) and brought it all to a local shop with a good rep. Discussed my use for the car at length with the owner, DD and longevity being a notch above all out performance. The block had to be bored to .040 and we ordered a stroker kit and ended up at 333ci and 9.7:1, pump friendly and near stock rod angles. I plan on AC and PDB so we went with the CompCams XE262 which was the tallest cam in the selection (.500 lift) before vacuum began to drop off quickly. I think with the machine work, parts, heads and assembly I was right around 3K. Picked up a few extras when I came across good deals like a 7qt. pan, etc.

Once assembled I painted the block, heads and intake all ford blue to give a stockish look. Snuck some roller rockers under the short valve covers too. Unfortunately I'm still installing everything so I have yet to start it but hope to be pleasantly surprised and have a 100K mi. motor that will be streetable and fun at the track.

If I had 10K limit I might have started with a new boss block or other and build it to withstand 7K rpm.
Jon

 

Jon this sound dreamy ! Did you need new pistons with those AFR heads. What carb are you running? Did you do the port work yourself? If so how did that go? Thanks!

 

Yes, all new internals, flat top KB pistons, rods, crank. I didn't know what the old pistons were and didn't want to skimp, they would have affected the compression negatively also. I'll be using a BG Demon Jr. carb that I used before teardown, worked great then. I had the shop port match the intake to heads. I would have done more of the engine work myself but didn't have the time (traveled for work then) or enough measuring tools. I take forever too so I wanted the engine back together before it rusted...
I hope to do first start in a couple months.
Jon

 

i don't know. if I had 3000$ for an engine I'd try to ****** somethign that has been built already for 4000$+ and only been driven for short while or couldn't finish the project or something. Or if I had to do it on my own I'd probably look for a 302 roller ?!
I am positive you can buy somethign for 3000$ that you couldn't built yourself for 3000$

 

This is a good route to go to get a deal on a engine. Just have to hear it run, see it started from a cold engine and insist on a compression test.

 

Leakdown will tell you so much more than a compression test. If I were to go this route I'd still plan on the motor needing a rebuild, guess I just don't trust many people and I've seen FAR too many shortcuts taken when it comes to building a motor.

For the OP, thanks for the budget, now you'll get a lot of great advice....unfortunately I wouldn't know how do build a motor and meet that budget but lots of guys here will show you how to get it done.