Thoughts on using 96 Vortec 350

[Yukon Jack]

I friend rolled his 1996 (not 1995 as I originally wrote) Extended cab pickup a couple days ago with extensive sheet metal damage. It is a Vortec 350 but I don't know the miles on the engine. I could probably get the engine pretty cheap, maybe $300 to $400. My dream is to someday replace my whimpy 307 with a 383 but that is years away. I'm wondering if I should give any consideration to trying to buy this engine and not go the 383 route in a few years.

I'm okay mechanically doing suspension stuff but I'm pretty, well, stupid, when it comes to engines. Is this type of a swap better left to someone who knows what they are doing enginewise?

I'm really after more torque so maybe this engine wouldn't be a good choice anyway. Fuel injection would be great, but then again, the computer issue would have to be addressed and with that I keep coming back to the issue of lack of engine knowledge.

This option may not be cost effective once the computer issue is address anyway but I just wanted to get some general thoughts from my buds.