[99 to Life]

The ol sbc crapshoot. Been through so many of them it seems. I'd suggest just tearing it all down and rebuilding it yourself. Will take 30-40hrs atleast. If you clean it all by hand. If you have the block dipped you could save some time. or... just degrease it the best you can and hope it turns out ok. I wouldn't do that unless you hook up and oil gauge and prime it. If you get 50ish lbs on a prime, I'd run it. If you are getting 30ish, I'd tear the whole thing apart. Or back burner it and find a running one for a few hundo that you can hear it run and watch it get up to temp.
The sludge doesn't scare me, I'v witnessed so much sludge in the oil galley of a 305 and that thing had so many miles on it. When my friend put it back together it ran like a champ. I couldn't believe it.