I built a high 12 second 340 street car for my wife and I can assure you that it is not nearly as streetable as the stroker of my friends. Not only that, her car weighs 3200 lbs and is a 12.90 player at best with 4.30 gears and his will crank off 12 flats at ease with 3.55 gears leaving it in drive and 500 lbs heavier.

The strokers arent all that much more expensive to build. It is all the additional stuff that people are doing at the same time that brings the price up. If you were to use stock j or x heads the only real additional cost would be the crank and a small amount of machine work. Otherwise, if you do rods and pistons and aluminum heads on either engine, the cost is a wash.

I have driven my friends car on several occasions and I can tell you that you will not believe how much torque the little storkers make and how flat the torque curve is. They will pull from idle to 6k and have you glued in the seat the whole time. I cant tell you how many big block guys have walked away from my friends car shaking thier heads in disgust after realizing the car is a small block.

Should also add that if you live in an area with emissions testing, the wifes 340 combo is a struggle to get through every year, but the stroker car flys through.