I don't know your mechanical abilities, but pulling an engine is pretty simple to do yourself, if you're talking about driving the car over, dropping it off, and having them call you when it's done...that's contradicting your budget requirements.

not to mention, you don't really know what you're getting.


If you're on a true budget, I would go for a stock-ish rebuild with good pistons that get you zero deck for some decent compression. keep everything else "stock" except for the bump stick.

put it all together yourself, and save some money.

if i wanted a stock-ish build, this is what I would do:

polish/turn the crank
resize the rods
punch the block .030 over, if needed
have the decks squared/trued up
have hte mains align checked and honed if need correction
valve job on YOUR heads (not someone elses "stock heads" by mail-order)
new cam/lifters (you wanted to bump up over stock a bit)
new timing chain
new harmonic dampner
have the assembly balanced
take your time, read up on some books, ask lots of questions here, and put it together yourself.

I'm thinking you could get a solid 400-425 hp from that 440 for around $3,000 if you do a lot of it yourself.

if you drive it to a shop and drop it off...double that, and still only have a "bone stock rebuild" with a much longer wait.