I am going to build a stroker motor and want something that will run on pump gas and not overheat. I will use it for occasional track days and car shows. However for me to do either often means 100 mile or more round trips. I need something streetable even if I get into bumper to bumper traffic.

Need ideas a on which motor and kit would be best for my needs thanks.

A 440 block with a 4.25 crankshaft is a very simple combination. Use Edelbrock RPM heads, keep the compression down around 10:1 or less and run a mild hyd roller cam with a RPM Performer intake manifold. That combination will give you a lot of low end torque with very smooth performance.

Just don't go crazy with the camshaft or compression. People will try to talk you into building a race motor so you have to ignore them if you want a street motor. Look at the specs on the Chevy 502 crate motor. That engine is a good example of a streetable stroker.

I drive mine every day.

440 block
4.25" crank
7.1" H beam rods
17cc dish pistons = 10.3:1
Edelbrock RPM heads
M1 intake (was using an RPM intake)
Mopar 528 solid flat tappet camshaft
Crane ductile iron rockers 1.6 ratio

Real nice to drive on the street with 15 inches vacuum at idle.
I originally built the engine with a Comp XS290S camshaft, 9 inches of vacuum at idle and not so nice to drive on the street but I did for 3 years.
Car weighs 3800# with me in it and runs very low 12's at 116mph.

Mine is a street car also..

512
11 to 1 MP Stage 6 heads ported
MP 590 purple shaft solid lift
M1
1050 Dominator...

I love it..

The MP .528 is a good solid lifter cam for a steetable stroker. I'd usually recommend a hyd flat tappet or a hyd roller for a daily driver, but some people don't mind running the valves once in a while. The MP .528 is a really nice cam in a big motor but I wouldn't go any larger than that.

I'd lean towards the 440 based one, the additional deck height will help with compression height to get the pin out of the oil ring, and longer rods to reduce side loading on the cylinders. should make for a more durable combination if you plan on putting miles on it and not tearing down/refreshing every 30k miles....of course, on further thought, a stock 454 has a 4" stroke, 6.135" rod, with a 9.8" deck height, and they seem to last a while....rod ratio/side loading on a 454 (RR1.53) would be the same as a B block combo and a 4.15" crank (6.358 rod, 4.15 stroke = RR1.53)


I'd probably look at a 4.15 or 4.25" stroke, an edelbrock head, ~10:1 compression, and something like a comp XE285HL cam....

It all depends on packaging. If its a E or B body either is fine and as Patrick has stated the stroker low block is in production engine design perimeters and should be durable. In a A body the low block is a lot easier to live with as the RB is a tighter fit.

I've built every R/RB combo from 451/470/496/517 low decks and numerous 493-508" RB's.

The easiest and best 'bang for the buck' RB combination to build the 4.25 stroke RB using the 2.200 rod journal. a 4.15/2.375 isn'tmuch harder but it takes more clearancing around the bore bases and the oil pickup. and all else being equal, 12 cubes is another across the range 15-20 lb/ft for really no more extra $$$.

B's are trickier (when starting with an RB counterweighted crank) but The best B (again bang for the buck) and ease to assemble) is the 470. It's just a great overall combination that's worth the extra $$$ over a 451 but at the same time produces about the same power (though as little less torque) as a 4.15 stroke 496 by it's ability (or willingness) to wind up a little tighter....provided you've got the valvetrain to let it.

Either way, I keep the compression sensible with a D dish 10.5:1 compression, and prefer at least a decent set of mildly ported E-heads and top it off with a ported street dominator/Performer RPM or Indy dual plane (if you can find a good casting) and at least an 850DP. For a cam a good hydraulic 'default' is the old comp 305 (253@.0500 or the XE 251/257 @.050 grind. For added upper bottom through the top a Bullet Hydraulic roller with similar @.050 lobes will be bigger in the .200-up range which will really let the smallish standard port motors get a little more air which equals VE which equals TORQUE, with no drivability downside. 2" x 3 1/2" header and a free flowing 3" exhaust and you're pretty much set.

To go bigger than about 255 @.050 hydraulic (or around 262-265 solid flat tap) you'll really want to bump up the CR to offset the loss in vaccuum signal, it takes a bit of expertise with matching the components to run the higher CR's so we'll leave that for another day.

But the basic recipie outlined above can get you 585-620HP with way more torque from 3000 up than you can hook up....and a high gear roll-on that will pull like the passing gear of a well tweaked 440. Also you don't need lot of stall for one of these combos to work, just spec a tight 9 1/2-10" (depending on MFG) it to stall around 3200 and flash to about 4000-4200 and find something to hang on to.

Either block will make a good streetable stroker.
My current engine build for my convertible is a 440 engine bored 0.030" over using the 440 source kit with 4.25" stroke crank (505cid) with 7.1" rods and 17cc D-Cup dished pistons. With the 84cc stealth heads this is about 9.93:1 compression.
I have all the parts except for the cam.
Right now I am leaning towards using the Comp Hydraulic Roller 286HR cam. It is only 236/242 duration @ 0.050", and 0.545"/0.542" lift @ 1.5:1 ratio. I have some 1.7:1 rockers I may use that will bump the lift to 0.617"/0.614" and make the cam "seem" slightly bigger.

well i have a 500" based 400 block kit with 6.86" rods and 0.040" over pistons and standard size bearings at 10.8 compression and 0.039 quench. i'm still sorting out some fuel issues but it is IMPOSSIBLE to floor it without a spare underpants. as for longevity, i can't say as it is still pretty new but the piston is very short with an oil rail required. i run an mp m1 single plane and mp .528 solid that i retarded 4* to kill some comp and bottom end torque. with stealth heads that i mildly ported and had a valve job done on, it's a kitten until i hit it