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Old skool, but a 1650 rebore on STD 1600 rods (deseamed and shot peened), other usual bottom end work and arps as insurance. Suitable head work (blyndenstein b+), Kent ast2 cam and t40's will net 140 and not need to rev past 7250, and will do it all day long.
Odds on you can do the same with the efi system instead of carbs as the group a build did
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Yep how long's a piece of string etc. with power / revs. My only concern would be drivetrain; even big block gearboxes struggle when the power goes up.
I guess a honda engine could be done, but it is ultimately more work just to get it in there.
If you're super patient / lucky & can do things yourself there's no reason why you couldn't build a great spec engine for cheap - little by little imo then you can get a sense of what mechanical changes do what. It's all the hand finishing / machining that adds up to big results like balancing & porting I've found.