Been a long hot summer, too hot to work in the garage. Did put the engine together. I found a 97 5.2Liter engine with a roller cam. I am going to keep the matching number 318 block but I am at least for now not going to do anything with it.
I went with a roller cam primarily because of the weirdness of modern oils and the slight horsepower gain of the roller system. Bet I cannot measure that one at all.
Went through the bottom end of the engine. Compression is decent and even between cylinders. Put a new oil pump and timing chain on. Put the sump from the old engine on the new pump. Top end is new Engine Quest heads with 62cc chambers. Everything else is from the LA. Oil pan, intake, Carter BBD, blocked mechanical fuel pump opening and all the front accessories are going back on. I have a Edelbrock 4bbl intake but that will wait. I will have to do enough trouble shooting than I want with stuff I know used to work.