LA vs Magnum
BJR, I think the reason Ma Mopar stayed with the small intake valves, even on the 360, is because the small valves keep the charge velocity up, so throttle response at low RPM is better. That (low-end throttle response) seems to be what their customers care about, mostly.
Having run 360s with both the 1.88" and the 2.02" intakes, I can tell you that the off-the-line performance of a 360 with big intakes is rather slow, especially in a heavy vehicle with a TorqueFlite, unless you use a high-stall converter. But that 360 with the big intakes really begins to crank once the RPMs (and therefore the charge velocity) build up a bit.