The motor is actually a 347 cu in displacement, that was obtained by
using a stroker crank and .030 overbore.

Yea, that's a very common thing to do. All the parts available. Right now
there are probably 100 or so of those cranks on ebay.


The whole thing is not really that inexpensive to create
because the bare Ford aluminum block by itself is 4400.00 dollars.

That's why I went with a Ford SOHC 4.6l instead, for my personal project. I
found a short block - new - aluminum block and forged internals for $400 on
EBay. Another $1K for heads and all the other stuff, and the motor was
running. I didn't realize how much bigger physically the 4.6l is than the
5.0l pushrod motor.

It's on an (modified Adventurer) Amphibian, with a pusher configuration and
mounted right at the CG. With a pusher, you want the prop traveling through
air that is uniform all the way around, and disturbed as little as possible.
My cowl will be a big cylinder, uniform all the way around centered on the
prop flange so the size is not really a problem for me, but it'd not be the
best choice for a normal tractor aircraft. Weight is not much over 450#, but
the footprint is huge in comparison.

Like I said - your choice is much better! But I'm having fun anyway...