So i have decided not to go for anything exotic and go broke trying to put a moder motor in my old gal. Therefore I will just rebuild the engine and try to make her as reliable and bad *** as possible without breaking the bank. So is the Stroke build the way to go or is a normal .30 over rebuild sufficient, I want her to have get up and go but to be able to drive anywhere at anytime without fear.
Remember...you asked for opinions.
What does the highlighted phrase mean to you? Are you seeking a certain performance in a 1/4 mile? Top end? 0-60?
What are you going to do with the car when done? Weekend bracket racer? Show and shines? Take the wife/kids/grandkids out for ice cream every other Saturday?
Your money and your time. If you want a stroker to say you have a stroker, you don't need our input; just go do it. But it seems like overkill if you are not going to race it.
If you truly want input, and are not really looking for a performance car, a solid built 440 with a cam tweak to help increase torque, which is probably what you really want, will likely fit the bill.
The best and cheapest way to increase seat of the pants 'get up and go', whatever that is, is to swap gears. If you have something like 2.76 or even 3.23 gears, going to 3.55, 3.7? or 3.91 will make a huge immediate and cheaper difference in how the car accelerates. Just remember to change the speedo gear if you change gears. If, after changing gears, you are now worried about gas mileage or running too high RPMs on the road, then you need to rethink what you want or get out of the hobby. Nobody does this because of gas milage.......
A fresh 440 with a good set of gears would suit most applications, increase performance and be cost effective.