Rich,
Can we get a little more information about what you're starting with? I saw Rick said you have 6X heads. Are those 6X-8's or 6X-4's? They have different chamber sizes, so they will determine what your final compression ratio can be with them.
What all is included in that rebuild kit you mentioned? For that price, it must be using basic cast pistons. What do they look like? Have you seen a picture or can you give us a link to the kit? If the pistons have a big chamfer around the edge, you don't want them because they'll lower your compression ratio.
Here's a .030" over rebuild kit from Summit, it's assembled by Federal Mogul, they own Fel-Pro, and I think Speed Pro and Sealed power, so the gaskets and pistons and rings should be good parts. The pistons are forged and it uses moly rings, those are both good things. It does have the main and rod bearings 0.020" under, meaning that the kit is assembled assuming that your crank bearing surfaces will be gouged and that your crank needs to be ground, which it may or may not be. This rebuild kit DOES include the oild pump, which is around $50 by itself.
Summit Rebuild Kit LinkEDIT: I looked again and I saw that you can get this kit with whatever size rod and main bearings you need, so you aren't limited to the 0.020" undersized ones in the kit I listed. Cool beans!
It's a little more expensive than the $400 you budgeted, but at least with this one you know what you're getting parts wise. Federal Mogul is a known company that makes a good product. Whatever you do, don't skimp on internals, they're awful hard to get to and fix after the engine is in the car.
If you re-use the stock rods (like I did), that's ok, but you have GOT to replace the stock rod bolts with a set of ARP rod bolts. The biggest cause of rod failiure on stock Poncho engines was due to rod bolt breakage. Here's a link to the rod bolts you should get:
ARP rod boltsI don't see any reason you can't re-use your cam, it's a single pattern cam so it wouldn't be my first choice. Single pattern means that the intake and exhaust lobes have equal duration and lift, Pontiac engines usually work better with a cam with more duration on the exhaust lobe. Go over it real good to make sure there's no scuffing on the lobe surfaces. If it checks out and you have your heart on saving it, go ahead and re-use it. If you were going to change cams, with your gearing I would suggest you go with a Pontiac "068" cam, it was the Ram Air/HO cam from the late '60's. You can get a Melling stock replacement 068 cam from Autozone for $109. I think it would perform better than that Lunati cam, but that is just my opinion.
That's my advice for the moment.
Matt
