My first stroker combo was 9:1 with an air gap, fitech, and a comp 274 hydraulic ft cam, rhs "x" heads (1.94 intake valve I think? The small ones) cheap hooker headers, 2.5" exhaust through 40 series mufflers. 4spd, 3.91 gears, 25.5" tall tire and it was super tame. Barely noticeable idle, but sounded mean as it climbed through the revs.
Had enough torque to leave in 3rd gear. More than once I did so and didn't really notice until I gave it more pedal and was met with a lot less smoke and screaming exhaust notes.. It did tend to run out of steam under 6k. It still pulled hard all the way there though.
Now it has trickflow heads, a ported Victor 340, more cam, more compression (about 10.25scr), same gear and tire and exhaust. It gave up about 500 rpm on the low side, but is happy to cruise at 2k. Floor it in any of the first three gears at 2500+ rpm and it would wheel hop so bad I have to lift (just installed assassin bars, we'll see how they do). It still doesn't feel like I have much pull once I get to about 6200, but I may need to re-evaluate the valve springs (running 1.6 rockers and near 615 lift, stock tfs 1.550 double springs). The single plane seemed to help the top end and acceleration a bunch, but butt dynos are notoriously inaccurate.
At any rate, the 318 it replaced is not missed. The stroker runs cooler, runs harder, and has been a ton of fun. The 318 had lots of cam, was rebuilt with flat tops at some point, and had the same air gap and rhs heads, so it didn't suck - it just had 100 fewer cubes.
Unless you know your hard parts are in good shape, the up charge to go with a stroker is not much compared with a typical overhaul. If you have a cheap shop, or are knee deep in oem parts, your calculus may be different.
No reason a stroker couldnt wear a stock intake and exhaust manifolds, so long as it's not expected to turn too much rpm.
The 465/495 build sounds to me like it would make peak torque under 5200 rpm (more torque than hp) and may not suffer the stock iron too much. But I'd discuss it with the engine builder directly first and compare what they say with the goal of the build.
