To come at it from my perspective... $1200 is enough for me to have iron heads properly redone to use a modern cam (needing dual spings), run pump unleaded, and use performance stainless valves. The block machining alone will cost me another $800. It hasnt been balanced yet, and no parts ovther than head parts have been bought. If this is a real TA, and you plan to race it and dyno it, you will have to spend more coin on the engine. Think of it as cheap insurance. Your $50K or more car has one numbers matching block. Do you really want to A) have it go to a dynop and disappoint you plus run slower than you expected or B) have a catastrophic failure due to cheap parts and lax machining and destroy it? You can do them on a budget. But really, for a 340 TA, I'd expect twice that figure to get things right as opposed to running better.
