360 vs 383

DionR said
Not all 383's had high compression, the 383 2bbl had pretty much the same compression ratio as the 360. Agreed that the 383 had a high compression option that the 360 never did, but I would bet most 383's someone drags home to drop in their A-Body are going to be of the 2bbl persuasion.

And the 5.9 had a better ratio than the 383 2bbl, plus it is probably closer to the actual compression ratio while the 8.5-8.7 rated ratio on the 383 2bbl was probably more like 8.2:1.

You always need to know what you have. It is not a good idea to rebuild an engine and not bore the block unless you measure the bores and they will clean up with minimum of material removal. It is not like you can run 10:1 compression pistons on pump gas any more. So in either case you will probably be buying pistons anyway. It really is a moot point. What do you have and what do you want it to do? Both will work, I choose a 383.