[jdean]

Byron, you can easily acheive your stated goals with a turbocharged EFI small block, or a turbocharged "smaller" big block vs. a big stroker combo. I've driven a 900 hp twin turbo 4.6 mod motor car that gets 20 mpg and is a daily driver. Idle was about 600 though. Stock cams. With 3" exhaust still very quiet too, except for the whine of the huge fuel pump. I think the intercooler is larger than the gas tank on my Cobra. It turns out there IS a replacement for displacement.....boost. Agreed you can't get this just by stroking a 385 to the max. Turbo boosted small block is my backup plan for power when gas gets to 5-6 bucks a gallon.

But on NA engines, don't you think, especially up to the 572, conventional components and recipes/trade-off considerations are the same as with any other V8 performance engine? Nowadays there is less mystery around long stroke vs. wide bore, and more agreement that this is much less a factor than breathing, compression, timing, tuning etc. in terms of reliability and power.

For example, the design factors for making even 545-557 strokers that turn 7,000....and there are many out there that turn that and more all day long....are no different than other smaller engines. You gotta feed it and select parts that stay together. You make a good point...all things being equal, you make the same power at lower RPM by stroking. Long stroke does not automatically mean the only benefit is low RPM torque.

But with the goal being designed to rev high, you still make the power up top with a big stroke like any wide bore, lesser cubic inch engine. Yeah there is increased piston speed with the big strokers, but up to the 7-8,000 RPM range piston speed differences are not the big issue. The valve train, crankshaft, rods and mains are. They remain the key to living up there, like every other engine combo that revs high.