Engine rebuild info/questions

You can do what you are looking to do with a fairly stock set up motor. You would want to get your compresion up around 9.5 to 9.7. I would use something along the lines of a comp cams 280H or even a 272H style cam. I would also possibly look at doing a little bit of head work. go up to 2.02 int. and 1.60 exh. valves and do even a little port work on the heads. You can build alot more motor for the same amount of money that a machine shop will charge you to build a bone stock motor. You could even build a stroker motor for pretty close to the same as a shop would charge. I would suggest going and getting an engine book for around $15 - $20 from the book store and taking a look at it and see if it is something that is over your head. If it isn't you can use if for a guide to doing to work yourself. I built the kinda motor that you are talking about for about $2000 with the machine work included in that price.