Who here has done a "ghetto overhaul"?

Alot of people do that. Just be sure to assemble it right using correct tolerances, and check for cylinder wall flaws, and if it needs to be machined don't cut corners...

you'd be amazed what you can get away with. The key is to make sure the crank doesn't need to be turned. If the main and rod bearings look good (i.e. no copper showing/grooves), then all you really need to do is clean everything REALLY well, and maybe splurge for new cam bearings. If you go the cam bearing route - you can get the block hottanked (don't know if you consider that "machine work"). The only other place that might be good to spend some dough is a valve job, new springs (a cheap $60 set will still be 150% better than the worn out stockers) and maybe mill the heads a .020" or so to bump up the compression. Even if the cylinder bores are scored up and tapered to death, it'll still rev out and make some power. There is something to be said for making power on the cheap . . .