Clois hit the spot. I agree with most of all she said. If you want to stay basic & not tune all the time, good torque, h.p,& sound, you don't have to go radical with very expensive parts. Get the block good & sound. Line bore &, honed, do the FE oiling mods & good
oil pump, forged pistons, but not needed, stock crank is fine, just have it polished shot peened & checked, try to get everything balanced, check & resize both ends of the rods. Go with the performer rpm manifold, the runners are larger, port match the, manifold, heads & gaskets, (with the alum. heads it's easy) Cam- I like Comp cams, others are fine also. Stay around 248 duration & under, 570 lift. If you go higher on the lift, you'll need higher spring weights, valves ect. If you want the "lopy" sound, lobe sep. angle is important, the higher the number, the smoother running, stay under 110 deg. Ultradyne also has some good cams. Don't worry too, much of the advertised rpm rates for the listed cams, we have very light weight cars so it's not as important as a heavy, Camaro, Firebird, ect...., but, stick around 2,500 & under. Carb- a good old Holley is fine, just put a rebuild kit in it, if you have the funds, go with a Berry Grant, awesome carb. All, of this depends on how you want to use the car, good daily driver to all out street thumper ! Since it sounds like a good street car, you can do it easy with the $$$ you have. Big blks have great torque & fun on the street. If you want high rpm's & hp...it costs big bucks. Straight block, good flowing heads, cam & carb, is where to put the money.
Kev