The first 440 build I ever did 23 years ago, I walked into a local machine shop with a disassembled long block and a magazine article for a hi po 440 build, probably similar to the ones being talked about here. upper 9's to 1, big valves, some porting, MP cam etc.
The machine shop took a pen and x'd out everything they said would be a disaster in a 4x4 truck, I spent quite a bit of cash, took their advice, and basically ended up with a stock 8:1 motor .030 bigger than I took apart. Should of gone elsewhere, that shop is long out of business now.
