Quick update. I got my head back from a shop with 1 new valve. He said the rest looked decent. It was super cheap and supports my "just get up and running" mentality. I was shopping for a new cam and lifters and pushrods for peice of mind and I stumbled across top end kits on summit.
Looking at this right now
http://m.summitracing.com/parts/tfs-k314-445-405
It's a bit more then the $300 I would spend on the peice of mind cam/lifter/pushrod kit I priced out but if it delivers the 450 claimed hp then I'd prbly be happy with this setup for a while.
The aluminum truck LS on CL was snapped up and the extra expense/headache of converting has me shying away in favor of just keeping my current setup +more power
I have modest goals of 450ish hp for street/track work and am getting antsy since the car has been down almost a month
I'm all over the map!

I've always been told to not make major changes (upgrades) to the top end of an engine without being positive of the condition of the bottom end first. In your case it seems like the questionable parts might be the rings and bearings which you won't know without pulling the long block apart.

If I was on a budget just to get it back together and running again, I'd lean towards just a new cam\lifter setup that will work happily with your heads and compression ratio and call it good. I wouldn't make any major performance enhancing upgrades without going through the rest of the engine first.

The pulling and disassembly of the engine isn't much more work than you have already done and if it is all good inside, you might be able to get away with just replacing the bearings. This would also give you the chance to fix all of the leaks properly.

Good point..I tend to get carried away and go flying off the high board when it comes parts. More is always better right?:headspin:

I should stick to my plan for now. The engine will have to come out when I eventually ditch the TH350 for a T56 and I can worry about rebuilding it then.

Here are the 3 cams I was looking at from summit in order of mild to spicey

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/su...make/chevrolet
Duration 278/288, Lift .421/.444

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/su...make/chevrolet
Duration 288/298, Lift .444/.466

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/su...make/chevrolet
Duration 298/304, Lift .466/.487

Again, I should prbly play it safe with the 1102 but here is a supporting article in Hot Rod from 1999 where the 1103 and 1105 where dyno'd on a 350 with freshened up stock heads. If you click the pictures theres alot more info..The 1105 only produces 12.7 vaccum in the test which is a little low for my power brakes so I'm thinking the 1103 might be a good middle road
http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/camshafts/