If disaster ever strikes my current bigblock drag motor, it would be out of budget to replace it. An alternative i have thought of would be a 6.4 stroked to 426, and my current alky mechanical fuel injection system made to work with a variable runner length stock intake locked in hi rpm position, with the injection nozzles run in the old Injecter bungs using some sort of adapter. A toilet type throttle body could be adapted to the stock intake.
So the cost would be headers, injecter adapters, an adapter ( home made) and toilet tb, stroker kit, machine work, motor plates and ignjtion controller, plus cam ,springs, lifters, head work ought to do it. Off the cuff guess is i could be at 700 plus hp for $6500 or less and i would be within .2 to .3 ET of my $20,000 ++ big block.