depending on your budget, i would go with a 481988 400 block vs a 455, 400's are usually much cheaper & most prefer the 3" mains vs 3.25. with the added savings you could step up to a forged crank vs a cast 4.25. or if you go with a 455 block a cast 4.25 crank isnt much of a benefit vs the N stock crank, a .030 or .060 455 will be plenty big for a street car with minimal track time.
same for the heads, i dont think you need to spend the ~$1000 for port work when out of the box E-heads will flow plenty for a street car thats not going for max hp. what CC size, chamber shape & brand you pick is up to you based on the cam & compression you pick for pump gas. i have a set of box stock 72cc round port E-heads on a 400/467 with OF cam, SD ported factory intake & a q-jet & it makes over 500hp & runs low 11's with ease in a car not really set up for drag racing. stock alum heads should be more than enough & sticking with D ports will save some money on headers. also consider the speed master heads for a lot cheaper than E-heads or KRE. porting is up to you but is not needed for this purpose IMO.
i have the stage 3 ported SD intake & am very happy with it & how it fits under the hood, seemed like the best choice to fit under the hood & run a q-jet, other option was a torker 2 or other low rise intake & a holley but i prefer the qjet & elect choke for a mostly street driven car.
i also chose to use a local machine shop to build the short block vs buying from butler or other bigger places, was a lot cheaper to do it locally at least in my area of the midwest, very reasonable shop prices & if theres a problem you dont have to mess with long distance or shipping the engine or heads back. i did buy the stroker kit from butler & went with a forged crank but saved a lot of $$ doing the short block locally & then assembling the rest of the engine myself.
i have the round port 72cc E-heads & they dont have the heat crossover... unless you plan to drive in cold temps below about 40*f the heat xover isnt a big deal, with the electric choke it starts fine on colder days & with a few minutes warm up time before driving hard it gets some heat into the intake.
nothing wrong with buying the block complete or porting the heads etc but like many people im on a budget with my cars so i chose what was really needed to get it on the road, can always do upgrades down the road if you feel the need.
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