[Sirrotica]

The new cast 455 cranks aren't that expensive, Eagle is around $300 from Butler. Then you can either buy inexpensive re conditioned rods, or go for the cheapest forged rods available, around $300 a set from Butler.

As many people that have taken out cast factory pistons and had their blocks bored and replaced them with forged, someone on PY should have a set of used standard bore pistons they'd part with cheap. Probably not the optimum way to rebuild an engine, but it's been done before with positive results.

I've taken more than a few 400s down with minimum cylinder wear and re ringed them to standard bore, used the OEM cast rods, and pistons. Selected bearings that had upper end clearances, and put them in street stock type oval track cars that ran for years under pretty severe circumstances. The main problem is getting enough bearing clearance so that when the crank expands, there is enough bearing clearance that it doesn't grab the bearing and spin it. Factory bearing clearances are too tight for sustained high RPM, they'll spin a bearing usually within a week of installing the engine.

The 67 GTO in my signature pics was run hard for 2 years with factory rings and pistons, just a new oil pump and selected fit bearings, and a fresh 068 cam, and lifters and timing components. After 2 years of dirt track running I sold and installed it into a 68 Firebird street car, and that guy ran it for years, until the body got so rusty it wouldn't pass PA inspection any longer, but the engine was still running just fine.

It's nice if you can afford to have the block all machined back to where it was when new, but I've done more than a few Pontiacs with just a basic rebuild, and put them back on the street, or track, without sinking thousands of dollars into them. They've been reliable in my experiences, because I just didn't have the resources at the time to afford better, but still wanted to race, or drive my street car. Believe me chevy guys do this type of refresh a lot, and live to tell about it.