[OG68]

’68 GTO with a numbers matching WT 400, 16 heads. Three speed Dearborn Trans, 3:55 axle,

Previous owner rebuilt the engine in 2001.
Bored .030 over. Engine was operated for about 500 miles before it was pulled and stored. When I bought the car earlier this year I pulled the heads and oil pan. Found surface rust in the crankcase, scored bores, heavy carbon on the piston tops.

I took it to a local well known machine shop (recommended by other Pontiac owners) for a teardown and inspection and they reported the following:
The Bad
Excessive wear on the rod bearings and crankshaft. (rod ends reportably to tight)
Excessive wear on the cam bearings
All cylinder bores scored
Deck surface rough
Valve guide inserts worn
The Good
Passed Mag inspection
Line bore was good
Machine work they recommend
Bore .040 with Torque Plates
Machine crankshaft to .020
New Bronze valve guides
Light deck and head resurfacing
Resize factory rods
Balancing

What I Want
At least 325-350 flywheel HP and to operate on 91 octane with 10% ethanol. I’ve done some reading on similar engine builds and I think the following will work for me.

Q-Jet
Factory Intake
Ram Air exhaust manifolds.
Upgrade the camshaft to Melling SPC7 or Lunati Voodoo 10510702
New lifters, oil pump, pushrods, timing gears.

From Spotts Performance
KB pistons 17cc dish (KB346-040) with recommended rings
670 head kit .

Seeing how I need to clean up the deck, would zero deck clearance be beneficial? Machine shop says they can keep the compression to about 9.5 with the combination of the dished pistons and the right type of head gasket.

A stroker kit is tempting but due to budgetary concerns I’ll be using the original crank and rods. Engine had about 115k on it when it was rebuilt the first time so I’m thinking the original rods will be sufficient for the power levels I’m looking for.

Thanks in advance for any advice.