Every once in a while, you run into a setback in a car project. While Dan was measuring the deck heights at various points on my 1983 318 block, he determined that the measurements suggested that the block had a bit of a twist to it. In addition, Dan informed me that some of the main saddles were out of spec, and needed an align bore. But, the biggest downer (for me), was his discovery of hairline cracks running from the head bolt holes to the coolant holes. Dan let me know that he's seen this problem before on the newer ('80s/up) 318/360 engine blocks, and he has a method of fixing them. After mentally digesting this unfortunate discovery, as well as the other issues found with the block, I decided to not invest any more into a questionable block, and instead search for a more suitable, older 318 block. As luck would have it, a friend of mine that lives in my neighborhood had just acquired a complete, unmolested 318 engine, of 1970 vintage. I purchased the bare block from him, and I'm going to make preparations to ship the block to Dan within 2 weeks.
Here are two pics of some of the cracks around the head bolt holes that were found by Dan.