400 Rebuild/Stroker Build Newbie Questions

Hey all,

I've done some research and asked some companies and want to bounce some stuff off you all.

First off, I've decided to go with a set of moparts sidewinder heads after reading about rebuilding the stock iron heads and pricing some things out. I've heard good things about them and they're much more than the build requires so they won't be a limiting factor.Only downside is that they're out of castings and won't have more till April. I don't think that's going to be a problem given all the work I need to do.

As far as a cam goes, I reached out to Comp, Hughes, Howards, and Lunati. I've heard back from Comp and Hughes so far. I'll probably resubmit the Howards & Lunati ones this week.

The person from Hughes politely said I was an idiot for wanting hydraulic roller and suggested I use their whiplash hyd flat tappet (229/242 duration @ .050" and 0.518/0.518 lift with a LS of 107) and when I pressed for a hyd roller he suggested SER1418BL3-10. After realizing that I can get a hyd flat tappet, lifters and springs for the same cost as a set of roller lifters I'll be going with a hyd flat tappet.

Comp suggested 23-710-9 as a hyd roller and 23-223-4 for a hyd flat tappet (224/230 duration @ .050" and 0.477/0.480 lift with a LS of 110). I asked the comp dude why he didn't recommend their thumpr (227/241 duration @ .050" and 0.486/0.473 lift with a LS of 107) since it is very similar in design to the whiplash that Hughes suggested, he said that "it needs about 10:1 compression ratio...you told me that you are about 8ish...You are probably closer to 9:1, so, the Thumper cam will be very sluggish down low..."

Is that statement by comp correct? I'd like to go with a Hughes cam since they offer their "no flat cams guarantee" or whatever it's called because breaking in a cam terrifies me. Hughes does have SEH2428BL-11 (224/228 duration @ .050" and 0.518/0.530 lift with a LS of 111) or SEH2832BL-10 (228/230 duration @ .050" and 0.530/0.536 lift with a LS of 110) that are more "normal" like the comp cam.

I'm assuming I'm VASTLY overthinking this and should just by the cam recommended by comp or the Hughes equivalent...