To stroke or not to stroke......

The biggest issues I see wiht the 4" crank engines are related to shops used to building stock strokes. It's easy to overcam the short 3.31 or 3.75. For years I never had to use a cam larger than a hydraulic with .520 lift, and it's rare even now for me to install a solid bigger than .550 (that comes to .530 after lash) The 4" engines need port volume. They create the velocity thru the piston acceleration rates. It's the velocity that keeps the power up all thru the rpm band. But, it also means there needs to be enough port, and enough cam, to keep things moving. In a street car, it also means you need to harness the type of power it makes. They make huge torque. Even with bigger heads and cams. So, your typical 4-4500 convertor will feel soft on the street. And 4.56s will be very hard if not impossible to stick tires to the ground with. Even sticky ones. Tq numbers over 450 pound feet at under 2500 are common, with the peak over 525 tq under 4K. That's almost deisel territory. With good suspension, well thought out drivelines, and a modestly built 416, an A body race car (2600lbs) can run well into the 10s. A street car (3300lbs) that can hook even a little can run 11.90s with 3.91s. mid 12s with 3.23s. They are flat out amazing...lol.