Gene and Claude's block is siamesed, the BBM isn't. Theirs also has a much thicker main webbing as well.
Got a photo from a fellow who took delivery of a BBM 392 block and is currently building it. Also Eddie Haines had a 392 he built for sale on Hot Heads swap meet classifieds that I think uses the BBM block. All I could get out of him was that it was not a Gene Adams block. So that leaves BBM. Unless somebody else is making them.
Looks like they did a little reworking to the lifter bore areas for more beef. Hoping some feedback comes for this block. They are saying a release of the product for sale in July.
They are reworking the core boxes to fix a couple of issues. Claude has his hands full between this block and the manifold we are doing. I've been included in some of the conference calls. There is a push to get the block finished, it's up to the pattern makers to correct the issues at the moment.
Any updates on this at all? I'm looking into building a 392 and would be interested to see what the block options are. BBM Currently doesn't have them listed on their site, however I just spoke with them and they told me they should be back in stock in October-ish. I'm curious to see where the Adams/Lavoie project is at this point, especially since I'm not in a huge rush.
I emailed them in June and they told me they were sold out and to check back in August. Didn't take a deposit or ask me to get in line.
I will be with Claude the first week of October when we travel to Engine Masters Challenge together. We will be talking about the block and intake project and what to do moving forward. Nick Arias III was helping us on these projects and with his father passing away he had to take over the reins of the businesses. I'll report back once I hear something.
I also spoke with Doug Park at BBM a few times, if he wants to get serious about selling his he needs to setup a dealer network. He has nothing besides calling direct. I have customers that need something stronger than OEM but its like winning the lottery to acquire one.......
If they need to test one on the street under severe conditions i just happen to know a guy that can do that. Drag week would be the perfect testing grounds.
The Gen one early hemi was primarily used as a race motor in dragsters and the Donavan filled that space until the 426 came along...Gen one hemi went away until the nostalgia cars became popular again...Hard to compete in the Chevy aftermarket world...Now for OT folks it is mostly about the LS platform....
It ain't over till it's over. There have been many ideas that had these same road blocks that stopped them for a while and then things change and the dis hearted get a second wind and wallah !
Back in 2010 when this thread appeared, that big old clock was ticking loudly. Gene Adams has been improving and advancing the hot rod sports for a lot of years. I don’t know how old Claude Lavoie is but he too has helped to constantly advance early Hemi performance. It’s been twelve or so years, and undoubtedly many many man-hours devoted to the 392 block project, not to mention the amount of money. It would be a real shame to have it all come to nothing. I do hope that someone picks up the baton and makes them available. I really think that if the blocks were consistently available, there are plenty of folks these days who would gladly step up to buy them, especially given the rising costs of original blocks and machine work.
You may be right but examples like Pete Chapouris resurrecting SoCal speed shop after the many years since Alex first started it amoung many others like Dick Beith of ET lll Wheels game bringing back the Fueler wheels with even more options, it happens. And economies have gone up a down since the beginning of time. We just have to be patient.
Claude is the money man behind it, in his early 60's I believe, and I speak to him often. He has $250k invested into it to date so I know he isn't giving up on it yet. He had two block cast solid and sent to a facility to get machined, then COVID hit. That place was struggling to keep its doors open (very big known name) so the blocks have been sitting there ever since. With raw materials, inflation, etc has put a damper on projects like this. I'm in a similar boat for a bunch of items I had planned to bring to market - my bid price doubled! It will happen eventually, just another factor that wasn't anticipated. As far as the Bear Block Motors blocks it sounds like a money issue to get a batch made again. I don't forsee those becoming available for the same reasons.
I know it looks bad in the present and I can't say anything without getting political but I am in the same boat and it should and probably will improve rapidly in a short amount of time depending on your idea of what a short amount of time means perspectively.
Sad but true. Besides the coolness factor and all of early motors, the turbo charged LS motors have changed the game. I fought it for a while, but they are getting crazy rear wheel HP numbers with these LS on the relative cheap. Hard not to accept it at this point.
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