Hell no. This thing is intended to be a g-machine. As far as I am concerned I am going to "refresh" the stock motor with a couple bolt ons and a rebuild. A full exhaust, intake manifold, ported carb spacer, k&n air filter, holley carb. Then I will dive into the suspension. If the motor was solid and ran good I wouldn't have dropped a dime into it before I got the suspension the way I want it. It will get a tasteful drop at somepoint, probably with some decent coilovers, with some beefier sway bars, I would love to swap all 4 corners to disc brakes but yeah that is all dreams.
It's people like the guy saying I shouldn't waste my money on the 301 that make me want to do it that much more. NO one ever drops money into a 301, despite a few key things that people don't think about. First of all the turbo 301 that was in the Firebirds from 1977 to 1979 were designed to be run with a turbo, they beefed up the block so it could withstand boost conditions, this design continued on into the 1980, and 1981 but in every version of the 301. So I am starting with a strong block, that weighs less than any chevy small block you could find in that era. I did some research on the motor and decided that this was a motor that not a lot of people choose for their rods, it has the benefit of still being the original motor in the car retaining some of the value, plus this car is intended to be more of a scca type car eventually, less weight is helpful. Not trying to attack anyone, I am just a fan of the underdogs. Its hard to be different with a trans am.