As that was clearly the mid 70's I wonder why they wouldn't have run the 4.342" 400 block instead of a 4.25" 383 since the compression height of a standard 4.25" bore hemi slug wouldn't have worked in a low deck anyway...I mean why not just make a 4.34 or bigger bore piston?

All the talk of how much stronger the 400 webbing is (cold weather blocks etc) it seems like that would have been the natural choice. if you were going to build 360-390" motor anyway....just use a proportionally shorter stoke crank.

This is all very fascinating, it's always interested me since Greg Anderson cut his Pro Stock teeth wrenching for Hagan.

[This is all very fascinating, it's always interested me since Greg Anderson cut his Pro Stock teeth wrenching for Hagan. [/quote] I thought it was Warren Johnson and his Son that he worked for before marrying into the Black Family in Las Vegas,NV

There was someone around Pittsburgh PA area that was doing the Wedge block to Hemi conversions around that time...it was in one of the magazines, maybe that is who you're thinking of. Charlie Malyuke successfully pioneered the low deck Hemi though. That is who did the blocks for John Hagen, and Ronnie Sox (IHRA Omni).

The only reason it was done was to lower the cubic inches, I really doubt there is any appreciable difference in strength or power just a little weight saving in the piston. A couple hundredths tops but when chasing numbers…