well im a okie too i build alot of motors fopr the dirt and for the street the only thing that ive found thats bad about a stock 400 block is when you start putting alot of compression in it it will splitt the clylinder walls i have a 418 ci 18 degree headed motor for sell on rj compression around 16.1 its built out of a stock block with spayed billet caps dyno time only .. but my other builds are still running and still running strong , i have not split a block in about 3 years the last one split # 5 cly. but it was a blower motor it ran in the low 8 sec. range street car so good luck building your poject oh as for wheeler products they are just as good as any but it still depends on what you buy and what you are trying to build as in how much power you want to make