which year best 360 to start with?

The less you overbore it, the stronger it will be and longer it will last. Theres nothing wrong with going .030 or even .070. Just so long as there a suffiecent amount of cylinder wall.

This is where a sonic check comes in. If you can bore the block only .020 and fins pistons for the job at hand, you in better shape than a .070 overbore. This area, less is truly better.

Any year 360 is fine.