Very sorry for your misfortune, but on the bright side, now you have so many options.
If you have the original block, I’m sure it can be machined. You can choose to overbore it and add a mild cam, and add something like GT40 or Edelbrock Performer heads.
If you don’t have the original block, but you want to take the car back to original, WCCC sells rebuildable cores that they’ll date match to your car.
If you don’t care about originality and want to go the cheap route, there’s engine exchange places that sell remanufactured motors fairly cheap, usually with a one year warranty.
You can also order a new crate motor through Jegs, Summit or CJ Pony Parts. They have stroker options where they can get 500hp out of a 302 block.
If you love to deal with wiring, you can score a late model fuel injected 5.0 and drop that in.
Two things to remember:
- If you go with a 70 or newer 302, they have 4-bolt crank pulleys, so you’ll either need to change the harmonic balancer to make your 3-bolt crank pulley work or buy a 4-bolt crank pulley with 3-bolt spacing of the Vs.
- If you go with roller heads, the cool Cougar valve covers won’t fit.