A close friend of mine bought a 1969 nova 396 375 hp square alm heads close ratio 4 speed brand new. It would rev like crazy to over 8000, raced a brand new 340 gts auto, the dart jumped him every time out of the hole and he beat the nova every time they raced. He even put a set of 488 gears in the nova, but he would run out of rpm's because he had such small dia tires on it. I have owned 402's, 427's and several 454's the shorter stroke would rev quicker with the same cam.