[sammyg2]

79 to 81? good luck.

My brother had a 1979 Z-28. Gutless, two bolt main. liked to eat cams. 160 hp and it was the hottest engine they offered in Ca.
They got worse from there.

There's a rumor the SOME of the 79 Z28s with a 4 speed manual got 4 bolt mains out of the gutless 79 vette, but most of em were crap 2 bolts with cast cranks.

That was a bad era for cars. Really bad.

Can you swap an engine from a different model or year?

If so, get some 2.02 heads from an earlier vette 350/350 and have them bench flowed. Can you use a roller cam? that really wakes up a small block.
Lets you retain low torque and have radical lift on top.

i built a streetable 327 back in my younger years that ran on 94 octane pump premium and was just a tick over 465 hp at 7900 rpm.
That thing screamed. Gotta love short stroke big bore.
It was in a 65 nova (chebby II) and it walked on 440 cudas.

Undersquare is gazillion times better than the other way around, unless it's in a tow vehicle. That's why I don't get the 383 craze using stock heads. Take a square 350 that doan breath or rev and stroke it to make it rev worse.
Gotta have a roller cam, aluminium dart heads, and an 850DP to get it to scream.

They kinda work in 3800# cars with cast 2.02 heads but in a light car a good 327 will kick it's butt. Put stock 1.92 heads on a 383 and it'll need the Heimlich maneuver.

a good 327 has the bore of a 350, the stroke of a 383, with big valve 350 heads.
It breathes, it revs, it screams. Now take a 383 with the same bore but a much longer stroke, a shorter rod, and the same heads that are not much more than restrictor plates on a 383.

Great as long as you don't plan on going over 4200 rpm.

buy someone else's race car and put half the money and time into it to make it right.
Seriously.