You buy the block of 6061 T-651 and I can whittle you one copy out much faster than a cnc can do 1- whittled set of heads for big perkins deisel- faster than puller made his winter round trip to calif- shop[ rate here is 16/hr.like Jack said -in Iowa time is our most abundant comodity.....Thought bout this a little more- al is getting real expensive- wt is no handicap @ bville-Jacks post bout crosley reminded me of cheaper & better solution- weld up a block from steel- have article somewhere of somebody doing that for race eng-could get fancy and use 4130; but would make weld repairs more of problem- plain old 1018 would be stronger than cast iron- 304 stainless would make a nice unit also- harmonics might be possible drawback;but if heavy sections were used ,should be OK..are desoto blks getting that scarse?? saw a lot of them go to scrap-I only saved 392's.
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Russ,
The problem with a desoto block is that the motor will put out more HP than the block can handle even with a full girdle. I am talking the small 300" motors. I priced a forged piece of Aluminum to make a block out of and it was $2400 a year ago. Who knows what it would be now. You also have to remember the last 291 desoto was made about 52 years ago. In that time frame, rust (cancer for cast iron) can have a ball internally.
My idea would be to make the block out of aluminum and put removeable sleeves in. Just like a top fuel motor. Increase the size of the main bearing to 2.5" from 2.375", and add side bolts for the new 4 bolt main caps.
The big draw back would be the $10,000 or so it would cost for 1 block. And that would be if you could find someone to do it. There is no market for it, and I don't have a wealthy relative who will finance it.
Oh well I can keep dreaming.
Tom G.
