Building a 408/416 stroker

1wild&crazyguy said

Yes.

And even if the goal is big hp, the stock castings have a decent amount of room to get into 500's hp range.

Stock port volumes are in the 155-160 range...and when ported to the 260-285cfm, approach 175-190 cc.
I currently have some 915 J heads at 186cc's and 273-282 cfm @.500-.530 lift which is without a doubt enough to allow a 410cid sb to dip into the 500's HP range. And it will also rev high 6's just fine.

Click to expand...

For anyone not porting themselves or paying for an engine the cost vs return needs to be taken into account. Aftermarket heads are good enough and cheap enough now that beyond mild strokers - whose owners will say run very well - replacing the heads makes sense. The customer spends less to get more. Like MRL also said - It's not worth spec'ing an $8000 engine when he only has $4000. Paying to properly set up factory iron is becoming cost prohibitive. Nevermind the technical benefits of a newer design head.