The feeling I'm getting is the OP is not "do or die" at $8500 but doesn't want to spend needlessly on race quality parts that are way beyond what he needs. That makes sense to me.
When I supercharged my 3000GT all the forums were booing me for not going the conventional twin turbo route like all the other zombies were doing. I stated I wanted to be different and travel a less worn path. I did it, I had fun, met my engine power, maintenance and behavior goals, and for the large part was successful. BTW, was not nearly as successful on my budget but just couldn't stop from adding just 1........... more thing. But instead of being 1 of 1000's of TT conversions, I'm now 1 of 10's of SC conversions.
Now putting in a 500+ci stroker is not ground breaking it will set my 72 apart from the majority of the herd and I will enjoy display 5XX on my hood. Who knows maybe, at a later date and looking back, it might have been wiser to do like one of your forum members suggested, "just lie about your displacement".