Quote:

I have one more question. Do you think there is enought horespower advantage in a steel block to make up for the extra 100 lbs or so? Indy says the Maxx aluminum block is a 110 lbs lighter than the cast iron block.
No one has mention that yet. I was just curious.
How much extra horsepower would it take to make up a 100 lbs? I can't find my Moroso(sliderule) calculator.




This is an interesting topic. I have been thinking this very same thing myself, also. So, I found this info on "Mopar Engines West" pages:

* (4/16/04) Okay, okay... We have had several emails from people that feel there's another "con" we need to mention if your building an all out race motor. Everything else being equal, the aluminum motor will make a little less horsepower. We have seen as much as 20 HP, on the dyno, on 900 HP motors. This is because the engine is basically an air pump AND a heat engine, and it's harder to keep heat in an aluminum motor. Also, aluminum moves around more, so ring seal varies at very high cylinder pressures. But this only affects all out race motors. On a street motor it would be hard to measure any difference, and any slight decrease in HP would be more than offset by the decrease in weight.

http://www.moparengineswest.com/No_Blocks.htm