Mopar Forums - So many questions...

Seasons Greetings!

As I sit in class "studying" for finals, I've been doing a lot of thinking on what to do next, as well as watching a lot of Youtube. One particularly interesting series is "Perfect Daily Driver" by Uncle Tony's Garage. I use my Aspen as a daily driver, so this was of interest to me. Before I get into my LONG list of ideas/ questions, here are my current specs:

78 Aspen R/T
stock 318, carter 2 BBD.
Petronix Ignitor III ignition (yes, I know I went against the wishes of the Mopar gods by doing this)
4 spd manual tranny, "High geared" (I'm guessing it's either an 8 1/4 or 8 3/4 rear end)
---> I'm currently only getting about 6 miles to the gallon, so I'm spending over $50 a week to fuel my mopar daily driver habit

Now to my ideas and questions, and please note that I'm on a pretty tight budget.

First off is the fact that the engine has 150,000 miles on it, and it DEFINITELY is burning oil. Shoots a bigass cloud of oil smoke every time it fires up, and you can smell it too. I'd say the rings are probably shot. I've been thinking about buying a short block from Mabbco motors (Link below), which would require a lot of saving, but it's still probably doable. I'd also need to buy an engine stand and lift from Harbor Freight (another $300) to get the job done. I would probably stick with the same 318 heads I've got now, at least until I could save more money to get a valve job done on 'em.

https://www.mabbcomotors.com/catalog...ited-warranty/

Second is the top end, which I can probably afford to do in a lot shorter order than the bottom end of the block. In the aforementioned Uncle Tony's Garage series, he puts an Edelbrock sp2p manifold on. Lose performance, but gain some serious gas mileage is my understanding (I'm all for more mpg, not looking to race anybody). Because I currently have a Carter 2 BBD, I'd obviously need to swap carbs for the 4 barrel set up on the sp2p (or almost any other aftermarket intake).
My buddy, who works in an auto shop, grabbed a 4 barrel that they were gonna throw away for me. Not sure what it is, and I was hoping y'all could help me figure that out. Picture attached. If I went this route, I'd buy a used sp2p, clean and repaint it, and slap it on. I'd need to rebuild this old carb, but that's still WAY cheaper than buying a new one. I'd also need to get a new air cleaner, and buy a breather filter that sits right on top of the valve cover. Altogether, a couple hundred bucks. Now, I could be entirely crazy, so it's up to y'all to talk me down if this is a bad idea. I'd like to know what you think about this idea, and I would also love to know exactly what carb I'm sitting on.

I think I've written enough for one post, so I hope to hear back from y'all in regards to my crazy plans. Thank you for your time!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...571717b8bb.jpg

https://www.mabbcomotors.com/catalog...ited-warranty/