I will give you my 2-cents on Hemi "stokers"....lol

I have a 604 aluminum Hemi....Had it a few years now, and its a beast...

What we see between tear downs is a lot of side wall scuffing from the short piston skirts. Maybe the big builders don't like to talk about it, but after re-building, I would go 572....Don't get me wrong, I will take the extra cubes, but I think a lot of builders don't tell you about a lot of things on the big engines until you find out for yourself.

I also think at the 4.5 bore, the sleeves should be a little thicker to help reduce any distortion. I do not have a really good gauge to measure if the bore distorted or is just that thin and its just the short skirts, but it does worry me to spin it up there. We do not see any roundness issue on our gauge, but there is an interaction in there that we see in the bores after a season on it.

A better rod angle would be preferred on a street engine for sure. Other things, I would like in a block, better valley oil drain back. I like the looks of the new KB better than my Indy as the valley looks to have a lot less places to store oil up in it than the Indy...Oil control on a big engine is the key to making it live.

Lastly, a more open pan area where the pan rail is more open with the big stroker...I should have gone that route on mine.