Cast vs. Aluminum heads and bang for buck..

Just called a machine shop today getting recommendations for a customers 65 GTO. it came with a 400 which definitely was not original and in the conversation we were told to definitely get a solid steel crank because those cast ones are junk..
He's just after a little Street Rod horsepower nothing to set the world on fire. And that was said. now five years after drag racing I have to worry about my cast crank being junk??...
I mean look at the Hughes website there's so much hype it's unbelievable. I love a couple few of their products but jeez...
machine shops love to take you down the rabbit hole of well if you get this you're going to need that.. and that's definitely junk... "IT'S A PROFIT THING" (from the movie The Jerk..)


It's not the Pontiac cranks that are sketchy. It's the rods.

But I've used plenty of OE Pontiac rods and never had a failure. They just make me a bit queasy.