build strokers or buy them

It was an iron headed 440 that the previous owner had put a procharger on. He had the heads off of it 4 times according to him, and couldn't get it to run right. After it pushed a head gasket, I tore it down. The deck of the side that pushed was out by almost .030 and measured at factory height. The crank didn't spin very well either. After taking getting the bottom end apart I could tell it hadn't been align honed. Yet the guy paid to have the rotating assy internally balanced with an SFI damper. He even had the counterweights polished. None of it made sense to me. There is no way I'd put together any engine like that, especially one that was making 15lbs of boost. There were a ton of other issues like exhaust leaks, carb tuning, plug gap, timing....But he completely skimped on machine work imo.

But like I said, everyone has their own way of doing things, so whatever.

15 lbs of boost supercharged 440. You didn't say, but I'll assume approaching600 hp was projected/expected.

You admit, he had some inconsistant stuff he threw money at; polished counterweight vs true decking and align honing. On a 15 lbs boosted motor. ](*,) I guess he didn't "get what he payed for" with that polished crank.

There were a ton of other issues like exhaust leaks, carb tuning, plug gap, timing....

Best machine work is not going to fix that. I'm sure that contributed to his issues too.

OP was talking a naturally aspirated motor that will make a little more than one HP per cubic inch.