need help picking engine.

Thanks in advance for all and any advice. Im new to the american car scene and needed some help. I currently have a 78 El Camino SS with a stock 350 in it. It is starting to give me problems ( i think its the carb and its leaking from the front seal ) so i was thinking to Either get this engine http://lakeland.craigslist.org/pts/1449280926.html  that comes with a 3 year unlimited mile warr. or take my 3k to the turkey run in daytona and try to get a deal. I know the rear end set up the car has is not so "quick" so i might get one with 3.73 gears. also my budget is to try to stay under $3500. i have some one that will do the labor for me. what would you guys do? this is going to be a daily driver and i will be pulling my jet skis and four wheeler with it from time to time and it has a 3spd auto in it....once again thanks for any advise...  

If you dont know about engines then you would be better off paying a machineshop to build one or buying a crate.A machineshop can build it to suit your needs  

Yep I agree.  
Horsepower sells Engines and torque wins races.

have ur engine cleaned and repaired as needed , new gaskets , bearing, anything it might need. buying a crate may cost more money.

also with 3k you can take the 350 you have , make more power/torque than the crate that u just posted.  

google muscle car crate engines and check out their ebay store or call them.they have tons of 383 strokers in your budget.i bought my 383 there and it has been great runs very strong ,if anything they underrate their motors.  

i would not suggest 3.73 gears in the rear for a daily driver, unless your using a 0verdrive tranny, like the 700r4, or the 200r4... you can buy a rebuild kit with upgraded parts like flat top pistons, a mild rv/towing/street camshaft, and add some headers, intake minifold, and a good carburetor for way under $3,500...  

Building a 350 can be done cheap but if he has no experience or anyone to help him then he'd be better off paying someone to do it.  

He sure would.  
Horsepower sells Engines and torque wins races.

People like that keep me busy. I can build to suit his needs instead of him buying a generic crate engine  

most definetly  

Normaly for the same cost  

i dont know about the 3.73s and a three speed tryin to pull somethin. i wouldnt go that way unless your not pulling them very far.  

i wasnt sure if i was gonna get a high dollar crate or go to a local machine shop.then one day me and 69nova were looking online at crate motors and found this shop.they had a good rep (a couple people online bashed them but youll get that with a gm crate too)and for a 383 stroker with aluminum fastburn vortecs it was 3400 including shipping so it wasnt a bad deal.if i dont go big block next time i might have a local machine shop do my short block and ill do the rest.  

If its a well built engine then its def worth the money. One prroblem I've seen lately with GM crate engines is that the wrist pins will move in the rod and start rubbing on the cylinder wall.  

ya mine is kinda like the zz383 it has the same heads,but with bigger valves though.plus a litlle more compression.only about 500 miles so far benn running for about a yr but im getting the car painted in feb and next spring its on