Heh, heh...sounds like the voice of experience!
Mgriff, I am also building a 400, but I want to take advantage of the 400's inherent low-end. Following the advice of Hotrod Lincoln and others, I've put in flat-top pistons to boost compression a little, and a mild cam for RV/towing to enhance the low-end. With an upper limit of about 5000rpm, my Edelbrock 600 will do nicely, and I'm going to go with stock-type "ram's horn" exhaust manifolds.
I don't know offhand how much lift the stock springs will take, maybe Chilton's or someone on here has that info. There are lots of choices in cams, so do your research carefully.
Good luck.
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