Except if the new blocks are going to be sold for $4800/$5000 or more. Donovan aluminum engine blocks are about $1200 out of the foundry without any machine work and around $6000/$7000 finnished. They have been making blocks for 40years so all development and tooling cost have been amortized. Show of hands of the people on this board that will step up and pay 5g for an engine block, better be at least 100 of you people
I know the Pond 427 Ford block come in at more than $4000,so,yeah,these are going to be pricy,I'm sure. Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Thought I would update this thread with some news, direct from Gene Adams. They had some struggles over the past few years with core boxes on the iron block. They have since corrected the core boxes, putting the iron block on hold for a little bit, and are moving forward with the aluminum block first. There are a few aluminum blocks that look great from getting poured. They are being shipped to a place in Michigan to get machined next. The plan is to saw one block into sections to take a look inside and make sure the thicknesses are correct. The other block will be used for one of Claude's builds to put to use. Pending the result will be how soon the block is to be ready for market. Slow going, difficult, and expensive process but actual progress none the less. After that, the iron block will follow. The other portion to this is they had me build a "one off" intake for a Early Hemi. I'm nearing completion on it now and testing with Gene Adams in about a month on a dyno mule motor he just built. It will go to the pattern maker from there pending testing results. The market also needs a REAL single plane intake for an Early Hemi, especially one with a longer runner length. The intake is pictured below. The goals grew a little to bring all of this to market but Claude is committed to the project and moving forward at a faster pace!
Not as of yet, guessing within a month or so I will get more pics and info as soon as they finish machining them. Doing my share to help get the info out there.
http://www.rodauthority.com/news/theres-a-new-hemi-in-town-bear-block-motors-392-hemi-block/ http://bearblockmotors.com/ Send them our encouragement, their email is on the webpage.
I was thinking the same thing, The blocks are cast overseas in a state of the art foundry in South Korea, and Park says that he’s established a great relationship with the foundry that’s capable of casting the quality he’s looking for in the product. In fact, BBM also manufactures a well-received Ford FE engine block that’s cast in the same facility; they’ve sold dozens of these blocks without issue. “We use nothing but virgin materials in our blocks,” says Park. The virgin material allows the casting foundry to be sure of the material quality, eliminating porosity concerns and producing a higher-quality product in the process.
I have experience in trying to make engine blocks in the USA. Foundry work by products are heavily regulated by the EPA, plus....people don't want them in their neighborhood. I used to rely on block shipments from a foundry in Wisconsin that was so old a neighborhood grew up around it and their use of electricity was severely constrained by the local utility. Caused a brown out in the neighborhood. Unless you do high-volume jobs for the OEMs, cast-iron foundries that can handle large tooling like engine blocks are few and far between
Aluminum foundry work is much cleaner and the tooling is generally smaller/lighter. These operations are not quite as objectionable to people but the EPA is still up your backside about everything
Interesting point is that Park is Korean. Prob has family that owns the foundry and keeps close tabs on the parts comming out. The new Bear Iron 392 will be around $4000
Wonder if it comes with the Hot Heads billet mains. Just the cost of those plus the machining is not cheap so if they are included, that's not a bad deal.
If they did, you'd be locked into that Trans no? The bell housing would have to be a touch longer . Without an adapters the cranks would also be different just & for that block.
Gene and Claude have the first few aluminum blocks cast and are now off to get machined. These are made here in the USA and are a much beefier block than the BBM. I know Bob McKray has a BBM at his shop right now for inspection, he said it was a nice piece and found a few things they should change. New Aluminum Block in Raw Form. Also note this will be a dry sleeve block.
Also the new single plane intake is now finished and ready for testing. Sent it off to Gene Adams to be used on his dyno mule motor to compare to 4 other manifolds. He has a milder build 369ci and I will also test it on a all out effort 369ci to be used for a Bonneville effort. A pic of the intake on Gene's motor.
I'm not following. We all put a Quicktime bellhousing on the Wilcap adapter so we can run a T5 or Jerico or 700R4. My Wilcap flywheels have a cone shaped offset to push it out the amount of the adapter. If you don't need the adapter, Ram can make a flywheel to fit anything. I sent them my Wilcap flywheel to get holes drilled to fit a racing clutch and he said its faster to put in the numbers on the machine and kick out a new one than to modify the Wicap. 2 days later I had a flywheel and clutch.
I say we encourage and praise BBM and Gene Adams to get their blocks to market. It's long overdue for an aftermarket early Hemi block. I think it's great news that they are so close to production! Bonneville guys, nostalgia racers, street rodders etc. will have an option to purchase a new block in aluminum or iron. I think the big issue with changing the original design is that there is already an established market of adapters, accessories, etc. However it would be neat to have versions with improved bottom end design (such as lower block skirts and webbing and cross bolted mains like the 426 Hemi) no need for oil bypass plugs, maybe setup for common distributors to drop in, dual pattern bellhousing options.......
The foundary that they are using does the blower casings for the majority of the supercharger companies.
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