Oh, crap. It's probably an SBC 307. They only made them for about five or six years in the late sixties and early seventies. I was thinking Oldsmobile because that was a prevalent engine in the 80's, but there was a Chevy 307. It's like a combination of 283 and 327 components. You could spice that one up if you wanted to, and it wouldn't tear ass down the highway, but it would be responsive and respectable. Going the 350 route, I'd say about $2000 for the engine and tranny if you scavenge for those various engine components, build it, install it, and handle the R&R for the transmission part and just allow them to rebuild it on the bench and give it back to you. More for anything extra that a mechanic touches. It's not bad, but it doesn't come cheap. You could possibly get some 601 or 416 HO 305 heads and have them worked, get a mild cam from Summit, get some headers, convert back to HEI, and get a performer aluminum intake. That would run you about a grand, more or less (head work can get pricey). If you're set on gearing, I'd say 3.73 is a goldilocks ratio maybe something a smidge taller if you want it to perform more comfortably on the highway. I can run 85 in my Caprice just fine with 2.78 gears, but I can understand wanting more. I know nothing about positraction so I'll refrain from delving.
