Have any of the posters in this thread ever built and beat on a stock 440 crank equipped 400 based 451 stroker? It does not appear to be the case lol. There is no harm in turning down the 440 crank. That isnt where you are going to break anything. The cylinder wall is likely to be the weak link.
The Mahle pistons have 1.5/1.5/3.0mm rings. Use a GNS or hellfire top ring and life will be good.
1/16" = .0625"
1.5mm = .0591"
Are we really think .0035 is a game changer in the ring pack durability? No, it's not.
And lastly, Andy mentuoned he removed the 451 manifedto from his site because it was obsolete with the parts available in 2022.
My juice cam 451 dyno'd at 500/500 hp/tq with big valve 906's at 9:1cr. It made 572whp through the manifolds on a 175hp n20 shot. The standard plasma moly rigs look perfect after 50 bottles. It had to come apart due to a split cylinder wall that showed up when it was idling in the driveway.
All of the above are facts that I know first hand. Aka not internet expert speculation lol