Bunch of Noob question from a Dutchman

If it is primarily a cruiser, keeping it around 230 degrees (@.050" valve lift), will still give a little rumble to the exhaust, but should still make good power into the 5,000ish rpm range. I did a 440 with the MP .484 hydraulic cam, and that has about 10 more degrees. It worked fine with 3.23 rear gears, but it had a 3,500 rpm stall, which may be looser than you want for a cruiser. That car ran low 12's shifting around 5,000 rpms.

For pistons, a factory type replacement piston for one of the earlier, higher compression engines will be fine in my opinion for a lower revving cruiser. No need for expensive pistons. You can get 9.5 -10 to 1 compression in a 440 with the pistons well below the deck surface.