[chopper]

Btsai has generously given me an opening, so...

I guess my stroker came as a result of a near terminal testosterone attack. I had spent 10 months trying to get a local builder to fix my nearly totaled motor, and also a pretty penny, and when I finally got the engine back into the car, it only lasted 1100 miles before going tango uniform. I took the engine to the goodly Mr. Parham at Southern Automotive and he replaced the block and built me a new engine. In the process of going through the build, he made the mistake of explaining the stroker options and I had an attack of cranial rectal inversion. "What, I can have another 100 hp for only that much???? What the heck, it's only money, go ahead!!!" To his credit, Bill tried to talk me out of it but it was too late; I had visions of Vipers and 67 big-block Vettes scurrying for cover when they heard the boom of the stainless steel exhausts. All the way up to the point where I floored the gas pedal at 65 mph while pulling out to pass an 18 wheeler and found myself going sideways at 60 mph on I-495 around Philadelphia. It looked like bumper cars - folks flying everywhere trying to get out of the way. Nobody got hit and nobody got hurt, but I did have to recycle my shorts when I got home. And let me tell you, when you screw up that badly in a small blue car with white stripes, meat balls and big shiny side exhausts in the middle of the Federal interstate highway system, there's no place to hide.

Seriously, I love the engine and it'll pull tree stumps out of the ground, but I have to admit that I might stick with a stock displacement if I ever had to do it again. For the track, it's great, but for the street, it's a bit much. My opinion, anyway, fwiw.