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Original Message
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| Aftermarket Blocks |
| By Greg Westphall - 10/22/2003 8:24:52 AM; IP 12.158.13.35 |
My buddy called me last night and informed me that Dart was making new blocks and crate motors for Hondas. I cannot believe that there are more people out there who wish to dump their hard earned money on a 2.0L stroker motor than there are people with worn out FE blocks in dire need of replacement.
Look, there is just about every other part out there for an FE being offered at an affordable realistic price. Eagle makes a nice rod that won't break your pocket boot, Scat offers a cast CJ crank, Ebelbrock has a serious enough head to work with most applications but no one has been able to actually bring to the masses an affordable quality block.
Some Edelbrock execs probably thought they were taking a huge risk casting heads for a 30+ year old engine but I am sure they have rethought their position by now. In fact it is pretty obvious that they have seen the market potential because after they came out with the FE heads, they came out with several more sets of heads for older American musclecar engines.
Judging by the messages in this forum and other forums, as well as other sites on the net, there appears to be quite a bit of pent-up demand for an affordable cast iron heavy duty FE block. By affordable I do not mean $5000. I think that if someone ran the numbers they would find the level of pain for a new cast iron std. bore 427 or 428 bare block machined and ready to go would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1800-$2300. At this price level I would expect quite a few of us would run out and buy one within 12-18 months.
Lets see..... an FE drops in a Mustang, Cougar, Fairlane Torino, Galaxie, Montego, Comet, F150, Marauder, Cobra and probably a myriad of other cars that I have missed. There must be serveral million of these car when you put them together still on the road or in peoples garages getting restored. Think of the host of ancillary parts that would also be sold as a result of these new engine blocks being placed on the market. Camshafts, heads, intakes, rods, cranks, bearings etc, etc.
I am sitting with a 428CJ with 200,000+ miles and 2 rebuilds with 26,000 miles on the most recent rebuild. It is already at +.040 and you all know that this is about as far as you can go with a CJ. So far a few people have taken a stab at making FE blocks but have either had financial issues, quality issues, or a price point that borders on ridiculous.
What needs to occur is a competent, seasoned, financially stable, company needs to take this project under their wings and put together the program. The return on investment is there, it is obvious. If Dart can make money selling stroker Honda engines I think someone can make money selling FE 427, 428 Blocks or even crate motors. I reject the notion that no one would buy them because they were not original Ford blocks. There are still enough blocks out there for those people if they wish to root around for them and pay the big bucks.
I am the second owner (Dad bought new) of an original 69 Mercury Cyclone CJ and I am sure it is worth more money (not that it is for sale) and a heck of a lot more fun with a fresh, aftermaket, strong running, 428CJ, than a tired worn out oil burning hulk of a once powerful powerplant which in another 60,000 miles it will be. In fact, for those people wh wish to maintain originality they can put their original motors on the side and thrash their aftermarket ones the way they should be. How many times have I heard people in this forum, me included, saying how they don't want to push their 30+ year old motor too hard because of what it would take to replace it.
If anyone is reading this that actually has clout with anyone who could competantly undertake such a venture, I appeal to you to go to that source and strongly persuade them to look at this as a viable undertaking. If anyone feels similar or diagrees please respond in kind. |
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