need engine build advice.......

How limited is limited? What are your goals with the rebuilt motor? The goals for a daily driver would be radially different from a 10 second car, as would the budget. When I chose an engine option, I set realistic goals of having my '68 perform like my wife's '88GT with a 5.0 motor. I felt that was realistic and affordable and would give me a headache-free car. I spent a lot of time searching and weighing my options and found a shop that sells motors and parts on ebay for prices that I couldn't match even if had the machine work done locally and did the assembly myself. What I got was a 302 with 351W heads, Clevite bearings, KB pistons, balanced rotating assembly, Cloyes double roller chain and steel gears, Comp Cams 268XE cam, lifters, pushrods, springs and retainers, roller tip Magnum rockers, Edelbrock intake, brand-new oil pan, brand new timing chain cover, chrome valve covers and all sealed up with Fel-Pro gaskets, including a one-piece pan gasket. The motor does not leak a drop anywhere, it runs perfectly and although it's not fully broken in yet, it seems pretty stout. The hole thing cost $2695 to my door and I sold the intake and valve covers on ebay and got about $200 for them, bringing my total investment t less than $2500 for a brand new motor that makes 328hp according to the buiders estimate.
Here's a link to an engine identical to mine that they sell on ebay. I cannot say enough good things about them. They are honest, quick to answer emails and do absolute top-notch work. The owners name is Darl and if you buy from them, you won't be sorry.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD...318QQhashZitem350077311816QQitemZ350077311816

Option four: look for a local used late 80's-early 90's Lincoln Mark VII LSC. Remove the H.O. 5.0, add intake and carb, swap your 69 accessory drive and timing cover to the 5.0, ditto for your 69 oilpan. Remove the H.O's roller cam, replace with a used B303, E303 or F303 cam (look for these here in the SN classifieds) Port and polish the H.O's heads. Add headers and the Toploader 4 speed (it'll handle anything the TKO trans will, and then some) If you watch what you pay for the LSC LIncoln, you can do all this for less than $1500. Another option would be a 94-97 roller 351W from a 94-97 E or F series truck or van and do the same with it. Only extra expense would be a front sump 351W oilpan.

I would go with option 2. This will give you a solid foundation for much easier upgrades later on. Granted the intake and heads will be choking a bit but those are much easier upgrades later on. I would suggest contacting Rick91gt. He is very popular in the 5.0 section and has a great reputation for building motors and his customer service. RNH Performance -Street and Race Engines, Custom Fabrication is his site i believe.
Kevin

if it was me, i'd do option 1 or D's option 4 and save up for a while to get what you really want. if you choke the living crap out of the 347 with stock heads, intake and carb it'll run like dog**** and just piss you off all the time. make it a reliable driver first then work on the power goodies later when you can afford it.

a basically stock rebuild with a mild cam, intake, carb and exhaust will do just fine for a while until you get some money saved up, it won't be a barnstormer or anything but with careful component selection you should be able to get 300-325hp out of a mild 302 which should be plenty to hold off most ricers...

if you need some help picking out cheap stuff for the rebuild let me know, i'm a pretty good bargain chaser with a summit and jegs catalog always handy

there's all kinds of stuff in the jegs and summit catalogs if you know what you're lookiung for and are willing to compromise a little. for instance Summit's house brand cams are mostly all made by Speed Pro or TRW and for the most parts are the same cams that Edelbrock and Ford racing use as well, their pistons can be anything from Sealed Power, Speed Pro, Slivolite, etc. and the prices they charge for them is less than what you can get them for from their respective mannufacturers.

Ebay is a good source of parts too as long as you don't get caught up in a bidding frenzy. and i've scored great deals on parts in the classifieds here (both sections), the VMF, and other sites as well.

give me an idea on what you want and how much you want to spend and i can start scrounging around. i'm going to assume the engine you have is a stock 69 302 right? i'm also guessing you want to end up with around 9.5:1 compression or maybe 10:1 which is doable with the right parts combo.