I say don't knock the L block till you've done it yourself. The A-series (without too much money spent) is just gutless unless you rev the buggery out of it and thats no good on the street, and with those rubbery pushrods *shudder*.

The L-series is not much heavier, and the a-series isn't very close to the firewall in stock location, so with a L-series with heavier box close to the firewall and a H165 rear axle, the weight balance won't be upset too much.

Just dont cut up your car and you can put it all back the way it was, save for cutting the g/box mounts from the tunnel which can be overcome with a different gearbox crossmember and a slight massage to the tunnel depending on which box you run. My yellow sedan could go back to stock and no-one would ever know, I could do it all in a weekend if need be.

Biased as I may be, I've gone L-series along with many others and definitely won't be building a performance a-series car anytime soon, I can't part with my money on expensive a-series bits when L-series stuff is so readily available and cheap.

My 2c.