[Mike C]

The tall deck motors are not a good choice for a light duty truck. The reason they went to tall deck on the 366/427 is to add a 4th piston ring. This increases friction, but allows the engine to be operated at continuous WOT in the large trucks it was designed for. The taller deck also moves the exhuast manifolds up and out causing frame interference in some cases. Also requires a special intake or adapter spacers to run a conventional BBC intake.

The cylinder heads on these trucks are small port for high velocity at low engine speeds and use larger stemmed valves with small heads. These larger stems allow more contact with the guide in order to better shed combustion heat, once again, for continuous WOT operation. The drawback is the larger stems are heavier reducing RPM before valve float and they reduce bowl volume and restrict flow.

Dollar per dollar, a 402 or 454 would be a better place to spend your money. The 402 crank combined with the 454 block gives you a standard deck height 427. Just make sure and have it balanced as the 402 crank counterweights are designed for the lighter 402 piston.