[BlackdeathGN86]

Hi everybody, my name is Alex and my dad referred me to you guys for some advice/opinions. I currently am a turbobuick guy, daily driving my 1986 Buick Grand National. Of course it has some mods, but I have strayed away from beating on the car, in fear of breaking the thing (which happens often). Watching all of this racing and people having fun with some v8s has caused me to have the urge to build a V8 machine. My friend and I will be bulding it together, and it will not be a show car, this will be considered a partially hacked together race car with streetable manners.

With that being said, I need some advice on where to start.

At first I was thinking LS/T56 swap into a regal. I am fond of Gbodies, but do not really know how it would work out trying to fab a manual into one (I have minimal fabbing skills, and don't know how to weld...and would like to steer away from that route, this will not be a multi-thousand dollar build).

I was talking to my dad earlier, he is actually on the forum and owns an '05 GTO as well as a 1971 Pontiac Lemans with a Pontiac 350. He then brought up the bright idea- "Hey kid, why would you do an LS swap, when you can stick a Pontiac 400 in that Regal, it will haul ass and it won't be exactly like everyone else, also being not as costly to build."

So, my plan is in a few months my friend and I will have enough $$ saved up to buy a roller, and purchase a 400, whether it be a bare block or a shortblock. My dad already has some heads we can use, a crank, rods, etc......I would like to stick a manual transmission behind this motor, what would you guys recommend? What kind of vehicle would be most convenient and cost effective to put this kind of drivetrain into? What would be the first thing you would do to make the most power?

Thanks for reading anybody, ANY input at this time would be great.