318 stroker - Piston itch....

While I dont really agree 100% with BJR on the flow aspects of valve size for you, I do agree that 2.02s on a 318 bore are not practical for you. In your case the side affect is that the valve reliefs are not easily made without going with the expensive pistons. You've run into the biggest problem with the "budget" builds. You can get a piston that's right for more cash, or you can get a Chevy piston that can be made to work, but has the reliefs in the wrong spots that you need to modify. I think if it were me, I'd go back to the post about "cheap 349 recipes" and see about taking one of those chevy numbers, and modifying it. But, that's changing the rod to chevy pin size, then re-cutting the valve releifs. Maybe a simpler way would be to have the block sonic tested first. If it can be bored to 4"(.090 over) your piston choices are tens of part numbers, not a few. And, the 2.02s will be unshrouded a bit more than on the 3.94 bore. The easy way is custom units. The harder way(s) are all compromises in one way or another. To get past each individual compromise, will take either time or money. If your time is worth money to you, or you have to pay for soem work, you may just find the custom option will costs similar money, and there will be no compromises. You get what you want, and it all fits well.