350 or 400?

[Hittman]

I am currently in the middle of tearing down my 1970 C20 to transfer the body/engine to a 71 3/4T 4x4 chassis. My plan was to just pull the original 59K mile 350, clean it up and give it the old puff can Chevy orange paint job and put it in the new frame since it is running fine. However I have an opportunity to get a hold of a good running 400 small block. A neighbor of mine just pulled it out of his 1971 Cheyenne as he replaced it with a fuel injected late model 350 he just had rebuilt. He is a GM mechanic who found this low mileage 1972 400 about 10 years ago. At that time he opened it up and replaced the bearings, re-ringed it put in a mild cam. He believes there to be about 60-70K on the rebuild and says it was running fine when he pulled it this winter. He thought he might have added a quart every 1K miles or so but nothing excessive. He is a stickler for maintenence and I don't believe it was ever abused really. I know it sounded really good when it was still in the truck but I never rode or drove it to compare to my current 350.

My question out there to you guys is what would you do? Keep the original, numbers matching, never gone through as far as I know 350 that I know runs fine and doesn't use much oil OR drop in the similar mileage rebuilt 400?

I have a guy who will buy mine for $250 and I can get this one for $300 so it's really a wash. I know the only thing I would have to do is get a flywheel for around $65 as the 400 I guess is externally balanced where as a 350 is internally balanced. Check me on that one - just what I hear.

Is a 400 going to be any more impressive than a 350? Are rebuild kits that much higher for a 400 when it does come time to rebuild?

Thanks guys,