[Streetwize]

The 363 is a nice combo for the 8.2 and even with a decent head like the Trick Flow 11R or the AFR 205 and a ported victor jr you should have ZERO problem hitting 7500 with small solid roller cam, Hydraulic cams can rev past 6500-7000 but a nice endurance type solid roller has a lot less mass and will be quite a bit snappier. But (if it were me and I was going to road race it at the track) I'd prefer the 3.25" stroke with the same 5.400 rod over the 3.4" stroke, which works out to almost 348 cubes, the lower piston speed and a better rod ratio is your friend at 7500 rpm all else being equal.

But for me the best combo would be a 9.2 Dart (Cleveland deck height) with a 4.125" bore and a ~3.70" stroke and with a long 6.125" or 6.2" rod using 2.0" (327 SBC size) rod journals with CHI heads and manifold. That would be more of a week-end 'run & gun" motor with at least a 3.90 gear and an overdrive....but you could still make plenty of power with a twisted wedge or AFR head.

396 cubes that would still rev to 7500 easy with a bobweight about as light as about the same rod ratio as a 331" 8.2 deck and assuming you go aftermarket block, really won't cost much more.

363 cubes will still move a 2500 pound car very quicky, the "trick" is to put plenty of head on it with strong mid lift flow but not so much port volume and cam to make the bottom end lazy. Compression is torque so even a 331 properly set-up will still get your attention at 2800-3000 rpm. My rule of thumb (assuming you build with adequate compression) is if you can get about 265 cfm at .450 lift you can make 500 hp pretty easy regardless (within reason) of cubes. So the smaller the cubes....the smaller the intake port CC will give you the best upper bottom and mid-range torque at a relatively small trade-off of "bragging rights' top end hp.