Gentlemen,
You're making the mistake of underestimating Mike. He built the 1776. He did the freaking Hoover mods on it himself. He knows what he's getting into. I've always been a giant fan of starting over, but I can see the wisdom of just making this one bigger, assuming he can do it without machine work or a lot of clearancing.
I've got two question for the Maestro, @Michael Pickett
- Did you buy a super-case for the original engine?
- Talk to me about the rod journals your 69 mm crank. VW or Chevy journals?
If Mike has a super-case - he can reuse everything he's got, except for the crank and cam, without any machine work on the case. If the case isn't pre-clearanced, and the connecting rods are VW sized... I'd start over.
Again, for the kids from Pekin - the 2110 with a W120-like cam is the absolute sweet-spot for these cars. They run cool, they run forever, and they make good power. They're just more of what makes a 1776 a sweet little engine.
As it turns out, they are about 19% more. That's a significant amount of "more" for pretty short money.