Hey everyone. I'm new here and have the opportunity to purchase a 2 door chieftain with a straight 8. It was a little smoky, had an exhaust leak at the manifold and a bit of blow-by was visible through the oil breather cap, but started in an instant. I am shocked at how quiet these motors are but was just wondering what am I looking at in terms of a full-blown rebuild if it does pop up in the near future. Thanks in advanced!

You may want to research that before buying. Where to get parts and the prices. You may decide to do something else.

I agree with carfixer007 above ^^^^^^^

Regarding your original question, it depends on what needs to be done during the rebuild, but I'd suspect this will start at a few grand and work its way up from there.

I found rebuild kits for around $2000 with everything except the rods. Just wanted to see if anyone has gone down the road and spent the big bucks. I imagine it'll cost me around $5-7k worst case scenario, but I have heard that these straight 8s are pretty sturdy and they do last.

A bunch of folks have. Work needed depends on condition and how much you're doing yourself.