Quote Originally Posted by blackmopar04
Im right there with you on the reasons to stroke it - though with the current stock rebuild I already have horrible compression (just north of 7.5) which is why i thought paddle pumping it now would be the cheapest way to go (im guessing about 3k with carbs and blower drive kit) where as Im at least 5k to stroke it naturally aspirated with a good single or dual plane...

Doc, thanks for the opinion - if you got more im listening.
Well, right off the bat: you realize you'd be way ahead of the game with a 360, right? Cubes is cubes, and more is better. Hence building my stroker on a 340 block, which has a larger bore than even the 360.

I would hesitate to hang a blower onto a cast-piston engine with an iron crank, though at your low boost level you'd likely be OK. Mopars have stout bottom ends, as evidenced by my repeated 7000-plus RPM shifting of a stone-stock iron-crank 340 with over 130K on it. Th Mopar's long rods (all factory SB Mopar rod are only .012" shorter than a big-block Chevy rod, and almost an eigth inch longer than the "good" 6-inch SB Chev rods) mean great rod/stroke ratios and low rod angularity, so side loading of the piston is less than in your average SB Chev, which, when combined with the high-nickel alloy used in all Mopar blocks, is why you see 150K-mile 318s with almost no ring ridge. My only real concern with the huffer would be detonation; I'd suggest a MSD 6AL-BTM box to combat knock.

My #1 reason to prefer the stroker, really, is the sleeper factor. It doesn't matter what you tell the guy when you open the hood, a blower is a blower. If you're at a show, cool. If you're on the street or at grudge night, well, I'd just as soon have the sleeper effect of a 390-inch engine with "318" cast into the side. Strokers never break belts, they aren't a pain to tune (you do realize that either option means sayonara to your current EFI setup, right?), they don't whistle, and strokers don't cost you bottom-end power via parasitic drag; in fact, they increase it due to sheer airflow. Also, the long-arm shortblock will more easily be adapted to future upgrades like ported heads or a bigger cam than supercharging.

Quality stroker kits for small-blocks can be had for well under the cost of the blower and its attendant parts, too... any Mopar mag will have ads from several places with kits under $3000; since the pistons are often custom anyhow having a 318 piston made shouldn't increase the price much, if any. In the long run, I think the stroker would be more cost-effective and less of a pain in the arse.

Start with the right shortblock first, then expand from there.

Besides, you can always add a supercharger to the stroker later...