Took me several years to build mine up. First year was pistons and cheap rings with a home port job on the heads and a hand file to knock the burned spots off the valves while they spun in a drill press (honest). Even ported the GT-40's lower intake a little. Put the used longtubes on. Next year got a new crank and the rods redone, total seal rings, oil pump and made a windage tray. Ported the intake a little more and did some other crap. Even fabbed a X pipe. Next year got the used AFR heads and new Crane cam installed, and ported the lower a little more to match the heads. Resealed and ported the blower a little. This past year or so made some power pipes for the blower, reworked the GT40 upper TB inlet for better flow, ported the header collectors to match the catted H pipe that ran better than the X I made and changed fifth gear in the tranny to get rid of some slop from driving in fifth so much.
Oh yeah, changed the gears over the years, from 3.08's to 3.27's to 3.55's and repacked the rear a couple times to keep it tight.
My budget was $500 every Xmas break to work on the motor till it was right and it took several years to do. Look for deals , be patient and you can do it for about half of new list prices. My kick in the nuts was I had to have the car raod worthy to take me to work every day.
Jamie