[olddog]

A few thoughts.

1) Be honest with yourself on how radical of a cam, you will be happy to drive. The more radical sounding the idle, the more skills needed to drive the car, and the less flexible the engine is. A radical cam will not want to idle along at a steady speed in a low gear (like parking at a car show or heavy traffic). It will want to buck and hop like a bronco, if you do not know how to deal with it. Some of us love 'em; some sell their car after learning they hate it.

2) How much time do you want to spend working on the engine? If you want the reliability of a daily driver, you want a mild small block with fuel injection. If you love adjusting valve lash and freshening up the engine (pull and rebuild) every 10-20K miles then maybe a solid roller cam, fire breathing big block monster is what you want.

3) A 289 FIA body style seems to be higher on your list. Consider a 5.0 block stroker. A 331 and 347 cid stroker kit is plentiful. You can even buy a 4.125 bore after market block for some more cubes.

4) Buy a used car. No better way to learn what you do and do not like. Buy it right and you can sell it and buy something different without loosing a small fortune.