[C.I.Blazer]

Great input. Thanks all!

I really want to make this a fun driver rather than a sit in the garage and only drive it once in a while car. It will be my only vehicle although I do have a work vehicle and we generally take my wife's car if we are going anywhere on the weekends. I would estimate around 500 miles a month. Local driving with some short (20 mile) trips on the highway. Does 300 HP sound about right for what I am after?

I thought if I did an LS swap I would try and find one with a tranny as well so I could have the overdrive. Does that make it overly complicated? Our other car (my son calls it his now) is an '04 Suburban so we are learning a lot about working on the 5.3.

It seems like every time I look at Crate motors they are all in the $3000+ range. Is that just because my eyes go right to the high horsepower models? If you wanted a basic crate, which would you go with?

L31? Haven't really thought about that. Another internet rabbit hole to go down.

Doesn't sound like a whole lot of love for rebuilding the 400. Do I just scrap it?

Really appreciate all the input. Please keep it coming.