5.3 in a corvette

saw a thread posted earlier today about a 5.3 in an 86 firebird. a friend of mine had his original 198* corvette (pic (http://www.dyna.co.za/cars/Chevrolet_80_Corvette_White_sf1.jpg)) block destroyed so hes looking for something new, and relatively cheap. what are some advantages/disadvantages to using a 5.3 in a corvette?

Hood clearance

Hood clearance

Yep I believe the big ugly truck manifold won't clear the hood. You'd probably have to go with an LS1/LS6/LSX style to fit it. Why doesn't he just put in a 5.7 LS1?

very expensive, think hes gonna end up with a small block chevy

Will an Edelbrock crate motor fit in there?

I'm sure it would, but you'll spend about $500+ more for the edelbrock name compared to what you could get an equivelant one built for locally.