I can tell Dave, above, is from Australia. As he put extractors on his car. I live in Australia. But there still called headers. To me anyway.
I have a 77. Many years ago it was Factory Stock. Little 4 cylinder Ford pintos would smoke me off the line. It was embarrassing!
To say a stock 77 will put a smile on your face is a real stretch. Now, putting on headers, a nice true dual exhaust and a good recurve of the distributor. That's not stock anymore. And that helps a great deal. Probably a good 50 HP. taking that 180 HP L48 up to 230.
All this is well within the OP's 3K budget.
Add in a Cam. Probably still in the budget and he's up around 250HP.
After that, with a 77 L48. It does get more expensive.
Replace those dished pistons with flat tops. Decent aluminium heads, A nice intake. Now were at 350ish. But well over budget.
My 77 really goes hard. But I did it over time. But my block is stock!

 

thank you for all the reply. I will leave it alone for now and see if i go LS or modify what i have. Pretty sure im more toward the ls swap but it's a lot of modifications and not original anymore. I'll think about it this summer. I really apreciate all the comment on this thread!

 

Sounds like a good plan! Enjoy the car during the driving season, then see what it really needs.

 

I agree.
But the one thing that does actually matter here to make the car more fun to drive on the street is the pistons, They are dished so the compression potential suffers a bit. I could care less myself about expensive forged internals for my street car as I never hit 6000rpm (in truth its better to have them for insurance but not financially justified 99% or the time for street use as failures shouldnt be a factor here) but the dished pistons will cost a bit of power vs flat tops.

That said, if the owner puts some 64 or 62 cc aluminum heads on the engine (steel shim gaskets will help a bit also here) they can get the compression ratio up to a respectable number and make some good power with a higher duration cam (around 218 duration @.50 ... As discussed in a couple threads here right now better flowing heads (abound $750-1200 for a pair of the version of the popular 195 chinese made dart pro one knockoffs like afr sells as the enforcers is about the most cost effective option new) as well as a cam like the comp 262xe or comp 268h cam and a better flowing exhaust can basically double the power output.

In the mean time, adjusting the timing with the vacuum temporarily disconnected and blocked to be all in at about 36 degrees should wake it up a bit as is.

I built the 375-400hp 355 thats in my car now in 2012 for about $1200... It took me a while to scavage up used heads and a freshly machined shortblock I tore down and went through and refreshed to be sure. But I replaced everything but the oil pan. You can find great deals on facebook on complete engines people have left over from projects or upgrades CHEAP you just have to be a good judge of character and understand the possible issues you may possibly come across with used engines or parts.

I literally just bought a rebuilt 406 from intake to pan with edelbrock heads and a comp roller cam for 3 grand.... still wrapped in plastic from the speedshop. There are deals out there. Sounds like you got one when buying the car.
I paid $2,700 for my 74 12 years ago and it looked a lot rougher than your 76. My car came with the same type of 80's rims...
BTW your missing a lug on that back wheel

 

You can also do things in a step wide fashion.
Just keep the end goal in mind so you do not do the same thing twice.
4-vettes virtually nailed it:
I'll go with best bang for the buck first

1. Distributor curve / tune $30 you will not believe how much that helps - 15-20 HP primarliy under 3000rpm
2. Real dual exhaust and Magnaflow mufflers - more than $30 LOL -15- 20 HP
3. Camshaft 268H style to build TQ with low CR- 15-20HP
4. Cylinder heads - boost CR & flow -15- 20 HP
5. Headers 15HP

Then later, after you get addicted to HP, you can pull the motor out LOL !

 

I just check and the engine is from 1989 encho mexico. No clue

 

Post some pictures! All the way around, with the air cleaner assembly removed. And of the front timing cover.

I think roller cams started on the C4 L98 engine in 87. I don't know when that trickled down to the hecho en Mexico engines.

Someone should be able to spot the difference in the timing cover. Hopefully.

 

 

Changing the rear gear ratio from the most likely OEM 3;08 to 3;55/3;70 will wake the car up.Will make it "feel" like you gained big HP.Building the engine up will still feel lame w/the stock 3;08 gear IMO.Most always forget to factor in the gear ratio

 

I swapped in a 3.55 rear end this summer from a 3.08 and honestly when just driving around I didnt notice much difference other than the higher rpms at cruise..3.70 would be more of a change but I think the gear change is somewhat dependent on the cam choice as well if a person installed a hp cam that looses torque and the lower rpm range vs a true street cam. Even the stock l82 cam was a bit doggy on takeoff when driving one the street vs the smaller l48 cam which is why car a driver preferred the l48. clearly you dont want the L48 cam but the point is theres always a trade off here with a 350ci engine until you start adding modern work arounds like more gears in the trans to give you the best of both worlds.

And with 3.70 gears you either want an overdrive gear on the trans /gear box or dont plan on doing much cruising on the highway.
I'm installing a 2004r which was the reason for the new rearend in my case.