Frenchtown, the trend in modern street engines is to longer stroke engines,less piston area,4 valve heads and modern combustion chamber designs take care of breathing problems.many high reving Japanese 2 liter engines have 3-1/2 strokes,the new generation Chevy V-8's have longer strokes than the old 350 small block.Longer rods lessen angularity and give more torque through leverage.