Stick with the L98 and buy a LT1 vette on ebay for $6000-$8500. And see which you like better and then sell one of them. You will probably break even when you sell one of them locally.
Don't cut up a perfectly good vette. 4+3 vettes are hard to come by. They always sell for more than the autos.
You could also buy a Z28 with the LT1, and you could also haul around 3 of your friends, or your women, chicks dig cars with back seats.
So they can load all of their crap in the back seat, extra shoes and bikinis.