yeah dont freak out and try to do a frame up restoration like i did. i started my junior year in high school restoring a 73 chevy pickup and its towards the end of senior year now and i have a good looking frame and a primered cab and thats it so far lol... it takes forever and my original budget of 2 or 3 grand has grown to 10 grand... so i would just fix your quarter panels and the tires or whatever you sed was wrong, then i would undercoat the car really good, paint it if necessary, and later on, drop a beefy 350 in there or something. you can get one with vortec heads from a junkyard pickup truck and then all you have to do is replace the cam for it to top 400 horsepower. thats all you need, any more will kill low end power and your muscle car will get its butt kicked on the street