Your alright man...I don't care what they say about ya lol...Yea I like the 351's way better than the 302 blocks. The highest you can go with a stock 302 block is a 347.And with a stock 351 block you can actually stroke it to a 427. for the difference between a 347 and a 408 being 2 or 3 hundred...you can't go wrong. I bet that car your dads got is pretty nice.
correction-351 big bore block can go to a 454...pretty crazy...all that and it's still considered a small block lol