Quote:

buy stiffer pushrods for the taller engine if needed

Wow, thanks, you're the first one who thought of that.



right, the only problem here, other than your sarcastic attitude, is that you make it sound like the extra 3/4" is a really big deal. it's not. given the same spring pressures in either scenario, the same thickness pushrod would work in either.
your great with the math, but i get the feeling you have very little practical hands on experience with this stuff.

as far as the cylinder walls being stronger because they're shorter, that's more myth than fact. we aren't talking about a machined tube here, it's a cast iron cylinder wall with imperfections all over the outside cast wall.thick and thin area's exist in both B and RB blocks. if you have a thin wall in the middle of the B block cylinder, it's a weak area just like it is in a RB cylinder. the only true advantage to the B block is the stronger bottom end.
in the 35 years i've been building these engines i've yet to see more than a handful that actually had thick symmetrical bores on all 8 cylinders. if you could actually find one, then i'd say THAT particular block would be stronger. we don't work in the theoretical world though.
in response to the block distortion from a cylinder head or honing plate, there's no difference in the strength there either. the deck is connected to the cylinder walls. if you torque the fasteners on either block they both distort the same amount. if the cylinders were stronger in one vs. the other, that wouldn't happen. the distortion shows up in the bore as well as the deck.

machine shop owner and engine builder