Procharger, turbo, or naturally aspirated motor with lots of horse?

I am getting ready to build my dream truck and was wondering what some of you guys have experienced with different setups. I have a 94 C1500 5.7 350 shortbox(currently has cold air intake K&N, headers, dual exhaust, power pulley). This motor is hgoing to be dropped as it has a base power of 210hp. That is too little horse to try and build up to where I want to be at.I am trying to get around 400 HP and anywhere between 350 and 450 would be fine as this still is going to be road driven occasionally and not just for the weekend street race, so my setup has to be functional. Anyhow, I was considering a procharger from procharger.com. My mechanic figures they will run too hot here in Las Vegas and the risk of blowing my motor is not worth the install of a procharger. ( some background on motor-I have to go with a 350 as DMV and smog regulations state to be legal I can't go above what I already had in the vehicle-really sucks)I am thinking a 350/330hp from GM or Edelbrock 350/410hp motor. The edelbrock on JEGS is quite a bit more so would it be worth it over the GM and its pricing(JEGS sells that 330hp for under $2500)? I could do the 350 383 motor, but I cannot do any LS1 or LS6 as that would change my computer setup and I have heard that gets pricy and is not worth the hassle and associated problems. Have you guys heard anything negative about switching all that out? does it get fairly pricy? Does it have problems?

The other option mentioned is the turbo. I know nothing about this setup other than I have heard that it has initial lag at takeoff which I think would hurt your redlight saturday racing takeoff. I don't plan on doing much high end racing or going balls out down the freeway at ridiculous speeds( I doubt I have EVER had that truck over 80 mph more than a handful of times), so I am looking more at takeoff performance. Are the Turbo's as good or better than the chargers? Which brand would I even start looking at?

My other option which was recommended was to go with a good strong crate motor, transfer my headers, power pulley over, install a good cam and possibly add cold air intake over to it and the mechanic figures that with my exhaust system would get me in that 350-450hp range without a turbo or charger. This is based off of going with that gm 330 horse crate motor. As well, let me know if you guys have heard anything negative about any of these crate motor setups. I don't want a lemon motor or one that will be needing a bunch of swaps. If I want that headache, I'll just build from the ground up. I appreciate any of your input. My dream is now becoming a reality after all these years. Just installed my edelbrock shocks over the weekend( like them so far) and I am putting in an Auburn posi this coming week to go with my 700 transmission. I look forward to your feed back. Sorry for the book.  

It all depends what your budget is. If you don't want to spend a ton of money, a crate rebuild with a hotter cam or ported heads will probably make a noticeable difference. Like you said, a lot of companies offer a 383 stroker crate motor. That will improve your torque noticeably.

If you're looking at really instantaneous response, in my experience, you want to go with a twin-screw or Roots-type supercharger like Magnacharger, Whipple, or Vortech's new VTS. Those things create instantaneous boost as soon as you hit the throttle. As long as it has some sort of intercooler, you should be OK in terms of temps.

Turbos will give you better mid-to-high rev power, but can lag a little off-the-line, but are probably the best overall compromise to give you decent mileage driving mellow and the power when you need it when you put the hammer down.

If you do go with an LS1, you would have to run a different engine computer, but I think there are some standalone kits that will run it, or adapters that will piggyback it with your existing computer. It's really one heck of a motor in that it produces tons of power for its size and gets pretty good mileage. Hope this helps.  

Seems like I may be screwed as they say. I found out through Summitt racing that the 383 will not work as thay stated it takes a different chip than what is in my vehicle. Any other chip apparently is seen by emissions as a custom chip and will not meet approval. This too makes the LS1 or 5.7 Vortech an issue too. Different chip. The ZZ4 motor, would have got really pricy too as I would be taking out my drivetrain and cluster gauges/instrument panel as it would require a whole new setup. That just doesn't seem practical as the cost is going to be extremely high and again will not meet emissions regulations here in Nevada. This obviously has me torqued like you would not believe. Coming from Canada we ran carb engines underneath the sun and virtually any modifiaction was a-ok. Carb is laughably out of the question here. Summitt stated the only option I have here is a new long block(that same TBI 210HP crapper) and throw on the Edelbrock intake manifold, cam and cylinders. They figure this could put me at 280 horsepower. Obviously nowhere where I want to be at. I am looking for at least 350 hp. A supercharger would work but Vortech does not produce the TBI supercharger anymore, Whipple does not, Weiand has a 142 that they still sell, but big kick in the butt or tease there, howvever you want to look at it, they are only emisiion approved to 1985 even though they will run on my setup. Procharger does not have anything either. So I don't know what I am going to do. I am not spending money for 280hp due to emisiion regulations here. Long term I will not be here and will go with the setup I want. This is a frustrating short term problem though as I cannot seem to legally achieve what I am trying to do. What is everyone else doing with the 88-96 chevy trucks? Just junking them?  

Well, yeah, just about any swap outside of your immediate model year will require a new engine computer or "chip" as you say. I know in terms of CA law, that as long as the engine being swapped into the vehicle is the same model year or newer, you're OK. You just can't put an older engine into a newer vehicle.  

Yeah, that is a stinger for alot of us. Especially us out her in the West. I am going to call Emissions here in Nevada and see what my options are but I am exhausted chasing stuff around and getting shot down all the time. The Dream is slowly becoming just that....  

My best advice would just be patient, do your homework in terms of emissions laws, and keep your eyes out for a donor vehicle or engine.  

off topic but what happens in the states if your truck doesn't pass emission laws? impound?  
-Cody

No...usually you just schedule a re-test. Out here in Cali, they have what are called "test-only" stations where they can only test, they can't make repairs. Some places can test AND make repairs. You just have to get it to pass within a certain time period. You used to be able to get cars to pass "under the table" but they're really cracking down on shady operators, so for most places, you have to have all the documentation, CARB numbers, etc.

My only experience in that area is when I had a non-CARB approved header that I installed when I was living out-of-state. I took it into a smog place, and as soon as he popped the hood, he said, "I can't test this. This header doesn't have a CARB number." Luckily, I kept the stock manifold. Sad thing was...it actually ran better with the stock manifold!