[goodyear1984]

ok well the first thing i can tell you is u dont have to get all worried about the rear end and dump a high dollar 9in in . you prolly have a 7.5 rear end.i would get a 8.8 rear end outta stang or turbo coupe,cuz they do have a clutch style posi set up and they can take alot of power and with you only asking for 350hp the 8.8 will take it and ask for more.
now to the tranny end of it the aod is a weak tranny and its hard anuf to keep an aod tranny alive when using a stock motor,the only way i would use an aod is if it was built.u can put a 5 speed in it with no problems,u can take a t5 5speed out of a 86-93 stang and it will bolt in.u will have to get the pedals from a stang.ucan get the pedals from a 87-88 turbo coupe and all u have to do is cut the tube down a little bit that the clutch quadrent goes in,it may sound like some messing around but its an easy swap if you have the pedals,clutch cable and quadrent,bellhousing,tranny,tranny crossmember.
now the engine side.there is a million was you can go about building your motor.all i can tell u is and this is from experiance.ok im going to give u a few different scenarios and the first one is if you are doin a stockish rebuild .now if the internals are in good anuf shape to re ring and bearing it and u dont want to spend alot of money have the blocked hot tanked and cleaned,crank polished,have the rods rebuilt,have the cylinders honed,have cam bearings installed and have the deck checked for straightness,then u get the rings bearings oil pump gasket set timing gears and chain.this is a budget build and is only assuming that the internals are in good shape and if they are u can have a pretty good bottom end that will run good for well under a thousand bucks ,you will need to ditch the stock headsand camshaft if you want to make any kind of power you could get a set of gt40 iron heads for around 300 bucks and a decent cam for around 200 bucks,rpm style dual plane intake around 180 bucks and a 600 cfm holley carb around 300 bucks.
now the next budget build that would be almost a better way to go would be to get a 87-93 mustang ho 302 thats in good shape,you can find them any where and for under 500 bucks for a good 1. they have factory forged pistons witch ur motor now doesnt have.if u find a good one then clean it up, install new gaskets, and now u should have some money for a good set of heads like afr 165s that will bolt on and have no clearance problems with the stock pistons,an rpm dual plane intake holley carb and you will get over your 350 hp request.there are many heads but thats just a great head and there actually worth something if u wanna sell them ever.
now this is assuming you have the money to completely rebuild the motor,you could do 306 or a stroker motor 331 or a 347.now lets say for going to buy a scat crank,scat rods and je pistons for a 306 build,well y would you build a 306 when the crank, rods and pistons for the 306 are about the same price as the crank rods and pistons to build a 347 and when i mean about the same price we are talking about dollars not hundreds of dollars buy a few dollars more if any and u get 41 more cubic inches for around the same price and the old saying theres no replacement for displacement is true.and any 1 that says 347 motors are crap eaither never has had one or built 1 with cheep parts or assembled it them self and had no idea what there doing .no if you build a 347 the machine shop will charge you around 120 or so yo grind away the bottom of the cylinders to accept the longer rods and the balancing will run you a a hundred or so more but if you look at the big picture your talking a few hundred bucks to build a 347 rather then a 306 and this is assuming your going to buy all new internals .ive seen people make the mistake of building a 306 and not being happy about the power and then building a 347.and the thing about that is now say you did build a 306 and u now want to build a 347 well now the heads, intake,cam and carb are to small for the 347 and now you have to buy different heads,carb,cam and intake.you could use the stuff from the 306 buy y would you do that when the 347 has the potenial to make way more power.
so basically be 100%sure on what your goin to do with your engine,make sure your goin to be happy.you dont wanna buy the same parts twice because your not happy ive been down that road befor and i hope none of you people do that.if i were you i would eaither get a 302 ho from a 87-93 stang and put some heads on it or i would do a 347, dollar for dollar thoes are the 2 biggest bangs for your buck.also make sure when u do choose your engine you get back on here and do your home work for your cam heads intake and carb selections. i cant stress anuf that you must make sure that you buy the right heads intake carb and cam if u mix match parts and they dont work togeather u will have a slugish engine that wont run to its potencial.
i hope this gives you some imput on your situation.let me know if you have any questions.
ps i know i suck at spelling lol