Engine questions(non-Camaro)

Well let's see, I have an 87 GMC pickup I got in high school that I always had big plans for but they never happened. I'm soon to be out of college and hopefully into a job where I'll have the money to fix this thing up. I plan to upgrade pretty much everything, suspension, interior, exterior, motor. I'm thinking it will take around 10-15 grand to make it the way I've always wanted it. I know I'd never get that money back if I was to sell it but I plan on owning this probably for the rest of my life and is something I will hand down to my kids someday. Anyway my main questions are what engine I want to put in this thing. I don't know much about engine stuff other than your basic maintenance and repair stuff. Any of the modifications will have to be done by someone else, but my Dad works with an engine builder and he rebuilt the engine that is currently in the truck so maybe that will help me out. Right now it has a rebuilt 350 with around 40,000 miles on it, nothing fancy just stock. It sounds awesome with no cat and flowmasters, but it's pretty slow. I ran an 11.20@60mph in the 1/8. I'm not planning on this being my daily driver so I'm more concerned with power than I am gas mileage. Now my main questions.

Ideally, I'd like to be making somewhere around 350-400hp. I'd love to have it supercharged but I'm not sure if it's worth it. So I'm thinking about 3 options right now

Crate Engine - I've heard good things and bad things about them. Who makes a good crate engine, GM performance, Wheeler? Looks like you can get a 350 motor around 350hp for around $4000.

Rebuild my current engine - It would save on the cost of buying a new block and wouldn't need any current modification to fit. But do I want to redo an already rebuilt engine?

Custom motor - Go to a performance engine shop and have them custom built a motor to my specs. But I bet that will cost quite a bit.

I'm not sure what size motor I want to go with either. I just love the look of a supercharger setting on top of an engine but that's probably going to cost as much as the motor itself so should I just go with a crate motor or big block making the same power? And that leads to another question, small block or big block?

I just wanted to get some opinions from some people who know their engines.

YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO THIS MONTH CAR CRAFT ISSUE WHERE THE BUILT A 350 WITH STOCK CAST PISTON AND A SOME VORTEC HEADS WITH A CAM FOR SUPERCHARGER AND OF COURSE A MAGNACHARGER SUPERCHARGER THAT PUT OUT 505HP. OVER ALL THE SPENT WITH THE COMPLETE BUILD LIKE 5000. YOU WONT SPEND THAT MUCH BECAUSE YOU ALREADY GOT THE BLOCK AND BOTTOM END.THE ISSUE YOU WANT TO LOOK UP IS SEPT. 06 PAGE 62

If there is enough space in the engine bay, I wold get a complete 502"/502HP fuel injeted GM crate engine and mate it to a 4L80E transmission. This will get you a bulletproof and very streetable truck, that would blow the doors off of most cars. You should also have some money left over.

A big block 454 would be a good choice, but youll most likely push more like 425-450hp with a crate, not to mention around 5 to 6 grand. If your wanting less than 400hp i would rebuild a 350, a good lift cam, right components, and maybe a lil head work could put you around 375hp without emptying out your pockets. What tranny are you planning on running?

A 502 sounds good but that may be a bit much. I don't think I've ever actually seen a motor that big up close, but compared to my Camaro the engine bay has lots of room. It's not a great view, but I included some pics of the engine compartment along with some other pics of the truck. I guess at a minium I'd like it to run as fast as an LS1 Camaro. In an all steel truck I'd guess I'd need quite a bit of horsepower to get into running 13's. But getting the 502 is something I will consider, it would be badass that's for sure. I'll probably need quite a bit of suspension work to plant that much power to the ground in a truck. It's kind of overwellming knowing exactly how you want it but not knowing how to get there since I don't know that much about engines and stuff. Anyway, here are a few pics.

When looking for engines....don't forget to check out ebay. Very cheap and there are some pretty good deals. I was looking at this for a Fiero... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=190020146586&ih=009&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

That looks like a nice truck, good luck.