Well I went ahead and bought a 'used' 383 off ebay last week. The only down side was that I had to travel to Orange to get it, but that's in the past now as the motor is sitting in my garage finally. For the princely sum of $2,000 I've got a fairly new, fully balanced 383 motor with a few niceties thrown in. It came with the appropriate harmonic balancer and flex plate which are necessary for all externally balanced 383 set ups. Also has a nifty set of gold Moroso rocker covers, a 750cfm Holly double pumper carb atop an Edelbrock hi-rise manifold, billet dizzy and a set of 350 to HQ extractors. The heads are only average GM units tho they have been shaved to produce a 12:1 compression ratio, but I have no use for them as the alloy AFRs will take their rightful place on this engine when the time comes.
The side pipes are being made up this week and I'm putting the finishing touches to my front spreader bar and Hydroboost set up. If time allows, I'll have the transmission cooler mounted and plumbed too. Pics to follow.