I always thought a 396 or 402 was just a destroked 454, same bore but shorter stroke? I may be wrong though.
maybe some of the true motor gurus could chime in here and enlighten us both.
Cp
a 396, is 3 3/4" Stroke same as a 427, the bore on a 396" is 4.093, the bore on a 427" is 4.250. the blocks are different, and it's rare to find a 396" blk. that will bore to a 427 size. However you can put a 454 crank in the 396" blk which is a 4" stroke, maybe more but i haven't seen it.