Absolutely, big blocks with stroker cranks are horrible.  We've played with a 4.25" stroke 460 base engine that is a nightmare. With all kinds of tricks that ting is sensitive to 1 qt. of oil on the dyno.  With 8 qts of oil in a pretty good pan, engine makes good power and oil pressure fall off 6-8 psi from 6500-7500.
 With 9qts its loses 15hp and the oil pressure falls off 12-16 psi from 6500-7500

 The 2.8 is a short stroke in a pretty big crank case.  The HP gains won't be huge.  But I'll take 1.5-2% where I can get it.

 Nice job Joe. Looks like you get to spend time with your family taking it easy.  Cars will never leave you I'm sure. Good luck with your next ventures. 

  https://youtu.be/gY2pXwx0b2w

Anyone happen to have a single J302 ford head laying around they want to get rid of?

Nice results, near 1.50 hp/CID.

Interesting as 302 Windsor based SCCA racers get at best approx. 505 hp, yet they are full race engines with few rules except iron heads, ported to the max. Been told slapping on a set of say AFR 165's will net approx. 40-50 more hp where rules allow.

That test is 3 and 4.  The engine made 448-460hp depending on the intake manifold. 500hp is certainly doable if went race gas and added a couple of points of compression. The cam was advanced a bit trying to keep the power down at 7000 rpm. Letting it get closer to 8k would help if you were looking for power.

Some good assembly tips
https://youtu.be/Gz92qTZW6Fo

 No angle change just more projection. Yes an adapter. On the 289 it was close to 10 hp on the top end.