Old school import?

[Kevin 1G Drummer]

So in a month or two I'll be picking up a '78 Datsun 280Z from my uncle. The car is in pretty rough shape, but I'm only paying a few hundred bucks for it so I'm ok with spending some time restoring it. Plans for the car include a near complete underside restoration, re-do any bad body work and a complete new paint job, suspension and brake upgrades, and a new engine.

The car has been stored since 1999 with the last registration expiring in 2000. It has been sitting in a pole barn on my uncle's farm under a cover, so the paint would be in nice condition if the last paint job wasn't a complete fuck up. There's paint runs and bad body work all over the place, so it's gonna be a big job.

Now, for the engine, I'm undecided as to the way I want to go. There's tons of info available on ford and chevy V8 swaps. If I go that way, I'll probably build a 331 SBF with fuel injection, or if I can find a great deal, maybe an LSX. My other thought is to build a 4g63 to around 350-400 whp. This car is going to be crazy light (probably around 2500 lbs) so I don't need a shit ton of power. 400 will probably be a little too crazy even.

I've got experience building 4g63s, so for my needs I think a 6 bolt with 2g pistons and 1g rods would suffice for my goals and be pretty cheap to build. For a turbo I could probably get away with an EVOIII 16g, or maybe a 50 trim. The only challenging things I'd run into going this rout is the routing for the water pipe, getting a transmission adapter and finding a front facing manifold.

I don't have a lot of experience with building a V8, but that doesn't really concern me too much.

So what are everyone's opinions? V8 or 4g63?