Here is the long-awaited news.

We are manufacturing engine blocks now.

I have just had three weeks in the US and Canada working alongside our key manufacturing partners to ensure we have a continuous, permanent, ongoing supply of engine blocks to the market.

We are manufacturing across 4 locations to guarantee quality, redundancy, scalability and certainty in engine block supply – from all our manufacturing partners and suppliers. This is a long post, but should provide a detailed overview of the lineup.

Our new HEMI and WEDGE engine blocks, now have these features:

• High grade A356 T-6 Heat Treated Aluminum, made with all new tooling. Our blocks are cast using state of the art low-pressure casting technology to increase densification in key structural areas of the engine block (previously all blocks were gravity cast).

• Revised water jackets – through modern approaches to design we have eliminated risks around internal core shift of water jackets. All our castings will hold core tolerances to 1 mm radially. All internal wall sections have been increased to >= 0.300 in.

• We have added a small china wall to very front of the foremost lifter bosses. This helps pool oil around the lifters for cylinders 1 and 2, previously an area that allowed oil to quickly drain away and not receive the full lubrication benefit the other lifter pairs had.

• We have added +0.25 in radial material to the block where the cam journals are machined. Our block will support cam journal diameters of 65mm (babbit) and 60mm (roller) the largest in the market.

• All main stud and head stud internal threads are now machined as rolled threads. In addition to the already stronger fastener specifications of our blocks (which I am happy to outline if anyone is interested). Rolled threads are significantly stronger and resistant to thread pulling (which is commonplace with our competitors’ aluminium blocks).

• Re-engineered and vastly improved internal oiling – our engine blocks now provide full-time oil to the lifters direct from the main oil galley.

• Cylinder heads still get oil through the deck, but it is now restricted (as it is now receiving full-time pressure). We have now also included provisions for separate rock-gear-oil-feed-lines that tap directly into the lifter oil galley bosses.

• Provision for Dry-Sump – our block provides a cast & machined-in provision for direct-oil-feed into the main galley (such as in a dry-sump or accumulator-based system). This provision at the rear of the LH bank on top of the bellhousing face (see attached image).

• EPCO OEM spec Zero-Leak-Gold engine-sealing plugs (core plugs and galley plugs). These plugs have a superior design for dual sealing both by way of both taper & machine fit and neoprene- seal. They are widely used by OEM’s. The added benefit is that these are shelf items and available direct from the manufacturer, not requiring expensive one-off plugs if customers want replacements.

• We use a proprietary Darton Sleeve with extremely-high nodular density and material strength. Our blocks are machined with a specific surface finish and interference to work with these sleeves for maximum thermal transfer and stability.

• All our blocks use 4340 billet main bearing caps machined to very close tolerances, dual-registering both on the proprietary main cap stud as well as in the block itself. We use ARP 5/8-9/16 stepped primary fasteners and double-1/2 in.-cross bolts on main caps 2, 3, & 4 (the load bearing main caps).

• Close Tolerance Machining –our engine blocks are machined to extremely tight tolerances. This means that minimal if any finish machining is required, which is more often the case with other engine blocks (cylinder liners will require machining to match individual piston choices, and builders will line-hone main bearing bores to match individual crank and bearing combination fitments).

• This is in addition to the many other unique features that are likely already known to the Mopar guys.

Availability:

We will be shipping during and throughout December. Blocks are not manufactured one-at-a-time. Sizable batch lots are machined through similar operations in sequence, meaning they do not get completed one-at-a-time but in a batch-lot by part number.

We are well stocked in all inventory items. Production will continue to pick up well into the new year. I anticipate we will hit our target of keeping shelf inventory of finished engine blocks during Q1 next year.

Product Lineup:

We’re making both HEMI and WEDGE blocks. Attached is a PDF list of Part Numbers and Block Specifications. Please download this to see the details. PM me if you have difficulty downloading or opening & I can email this to you. Broadly, our line-up comprises:

• HEMI and WEDGE engine blocks

• 4.240 and 4.490 semi-finished bore options

• Street and Race block options: The primary difference with the Race Block is that it has a raised cam location (+0.250 in), uses a large-diameter camshaft journal (65mm Babbit or 60mm Roller – both have the same O/D), and in the case of the HEMI adjustments to lifter spacing and angle to allow for geometry changes and improvements brought about by raising the camshaft).

• All blocks are water-jacketed, come with STD main journal diameter, STD 10.725 deck height.

Alternative Block Configurations: To address the questions around tall-deck, low-deck, 400 main journal sizes, solid blocks & alternative camshaft & lifter combinations:

• The product line-up we have specified fits around 95% of the market for HEMI and WEDGE engine blocks.

• The volume of these alternative combinations is extremely low and they’re all different. We have to run minimum batch lots per part number, so it is simply not viable for us to do this with every combination within the 5%.

• Therefore, we designed a “Pro” block that comes partly machined. Most of the time, our Dealers will be able to machine these engine blocks to final specifications that are “outside the norm”. I am happy to explain this in more detail in this thread if anyone wants to discuss it further, and there’s still some limitations on what’s possible.

• That said, we are doing a “one-off” run of tall-deck HEMI and WEDGE blocks right now, so if you have a need for one of these blocks please reach out to any one of our Dealers (listed below).

Pricing

We will keep our current HEMI and WEDGE engine block MSRP pricing at $6,895 (exclusive of taxes and shipping) for orders placed before 11/30/2018.

From 12/01/2018 MSRP will increase to $7,495 (excluding the “Pro” Blocks).

How to Order:

Our Dealers have already started taking orders (we don’t sell direct). Here’s a list of our Dealers and their contact details:

• For Hemis Only (Ontario, Canada).
Tim Banning. Tel. +1-(905) 797-2459 e-mail: forhemisonly@gmail.com

• Ray Barton Racing Engines (Robesonia, PN)
Ray Barton. Tel. +1-(610) 693-5700 e-mail: ray@raybarton.com

• Marsh Performance (Linwood, NC)
Todd Marsh. Tel. +1-(336) 283-0800 e-mail: moparts@ptmc.net

• Best Machine Racing Engines (Farmington Hills, MI)
Chuck Millen & Pete Costa. Tel. +1-(248) 987 6038 e-mail: bestmachineshelby@hotmail.com

• Bob Mazzolini Racing (Riverside, CA)
Bob Mazzolini. Tel. +1-(951) 787-8783 e-mail: rpmazz@yahoo.com

• Team Bray Racing (Brisbane QLD, Australia)
Contact Victor Bray. Tel. +61-(7) 3204-4454 e-mail: victor@teambrayracing.com

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions here on this thread that you may have, even if just out of interest, to do with our manufacturing, block design and new features, pricing, why the market has had stop start block availability, all the stuff we’ve learned along the way, etc.

(If it’s something that relates to legal matters, specific customers, orders, old engine block information, or old parts then PM me as I won’t answer these questions publicly).

Thanks again for your support

Darren Beale,
Keith Black, Inc.