Is building a stroked 318 better than a stroked 340/360?

The 5.7 G3 is basically a 318 with a 360 crank. Often wondered if the factory found a bit of a sweet spot with that combination and what led to the factory settling on those numbers.

Interestingly, the LS1 5.7 uses similar bore and stroke numbers (3.898 in × 3.622 in).

They both went bigger from there, but just makes me wonder if there isn't something about those bore and stoke numbers that seems to work well. Long enough stoke to give the crank some leverage but not oversquare? I know a smaller bore is easier to make emissions compliant so that was probably part of it, too. I don't know, just makes me wonder.

Comparatively, GM's 5.7 was their performance offering for many years, but Mopar's 5.7 was never offered as a "performance" motor regardless of the fact that it came in "R/T" offerings. In many ways the 318 and 5.7 G3 are similar in that they showed up almost across the board, in both trucks and cars and pretty much unchanged. But the 318 got a 4bbl option later and the 5.7 never did.

Either way, I wouldn't stroke the 318 unless I had the parts laying around. I think a stock stroke 318 is more than enough for a fun street car, even more so with boost.