i'm thinking I have around $6000 in my build and that was done about 4yrs ago. I do all my own assembly and as much misc. stuff as I can. I built a "spare 440" about 3 yrs ago. it's an iron head engine with hugh's ported '452's, kb184 pistons, howard's hydraulic cam, milodon track pan, ch4b, some misc stuff. bought the heads and pan cheap. maybe $3500+ in it. I really don't think you can build much of a performance engine for less than $3000.