[hoffman7476]

Ummm..yea. That's what I would do but you might want to check with your friend first about that 454 crank thing. A 383 is a 350 with a 400 crank but you get into some weird stuff because a 350 has smaller mains than a 400 so you have to have the mains machined to fit the block. A 400 is also externally balanced so you have to run a 400 balancer and flywheel so it gets strange when you're running a man trans. I went this route with a TA that had a T5 trans. (I found out that the "T" in T5 stands for "temporary" after a few hard launches) You could also do a 377 which is a 400 block with a 350 crank and forget about all the balancing stuff but you have to run main bearing spacers. The hot SB today is a 400 with either 5.7 in 350 rods or custom 6 inchers. You need special pistons and crank for either and the 6 in rods have weird oil rings because the wrist pins are so high on the pistons. I just built a 5.7 rod 400 and it's pretty stout but it still doesn't have as good a rod ratio as a Pontiac 400. I say plop a 455 in there and be done with it
Oh yea, get a 2 bolt main 400 because they are actually stronger than the 4 bolts.(chevy)
(I used to be a chevy guy)