Some of the most consistant answers I've ever seen here. All very good answers that You should strongly consider their advice. Rod selection is good. Think forged pistons!! Id rather have a cheap set of forge than the best set of Hyper pistons. This is more of a question to the other guys here than a statment. Have any of you had or heard of much failure problems with a stock 400 cast crank? I know of several that have been using it with no problem. I used the stock crank twice in 2 hard hitting 406s,but they were street--strip combination motors built on a budget.