I own that Mopar small block book. And it's fantastic. But, It's also a parts list from MP. Not my favorite supplier...lol. And, it recommends things that IMO are not as reliable considering the intended use. As far as rod ratio, the worst case is the B wedge big block, and the 4.5" cranks. They IMO are too short, because of the pin interrrupting the oil ring stack. Go to SpeedTalk.com and do a search on rod to stroke ratios, and the thoughts of big builders. In the 1.5 range (4" LA with 6.123 is 1.53:1) is factory on soem fords and GMs. Bad? not really. Worse than Mopar's originally? Oh yeah. 340s are 1.84:1. But, they are not known for mad torque. You do sacrifice to go 4". If you plan to run them for 50K miles, go 360 at largest. But I know several 416s and 418s that have 25K on them and still run fine. No noises or smoke. I also have a friend with a 496 RB (1.63:1) that is 8 years old, has 35K on it and still runs mid 11s on pump fuel in a 4200lbs Cuda. So yeah, there's wear. And it is accelerated. But in terms of realisitic life span, it's a very good trade off. In CT, these cars run 6 months of the year. Maybe seeing as much as 9K a summer.
