rebulding engine, now what? Options

[mattp]

I am about to pick up a 1.7 enigne minus intake. Owner says it ran, but has'nt run in a long itme since he took it out.
I have a 75 1.8 which runs fine, so there is no rush to rebuild.
My thought is I would like to rebuild this engine making more power (115-125 hp) and evenutually put it in car.
I am looking for more power but I still want driveability and durability. I also am going to be doing this myself and am looking to not spend too much money, I only paid $5000 for the car and am paying $50 for the engine.
Any thoughts?
I hear Jack Raby's stuff is great but it does seem pricey (no offense, just a $5,000 engine in a $5,000 car doesnt seem worthwhile.
thanks, Matt

[anthony]

It's not that Jake's kits are expensive, it's that our engine parts are expensive. Download the excel spreadsheet for the kit you are interested and then put a price next to each part and add it up. Price a new set of heads, h-beam rods, KB pistons, etc.

That said, you can build a stocker 2056 that puts out 110hp for half the price of one of the $5,000 kits. You save money using old heads, stock crank, stock rods. Since you are starting with a 1.7 you'll need to source a 2L crank, 2L rods, 96mm cylinders/pistons, and 1.8 or 2L heads to have rebuilt.

Or to do it cheap, build a 1911cc engine out of the 1.7.