Write it off to paranoia or just having too many experiences w/ paying machine shops for "quality" work and not getting what I've paid for. Regardless, I hauled my "ready to assemble" 448 block done by another shop some years back in a different part of the same state (not close to me) over to the local shop that did the freshen-up work on my 452's block this summer. I asked them to give it the and double-check the work.

1. Check bore sizes, concentricity, and verify the hone job was actually done WITH torque plates (been burned on that one already).

2. Check the aluminum main cap installation to verify main bore sizing and concentricity.

3. Correct the CRAPPY chamfer job done on the top of the bores that looks like my 6-year old did it w/ a rat-tailed file.

4. Remove what's left of the old dipstick tube that's still stuck in the block.

There are actually a few more items on the list I provided w/ the block, but you get the idea. Until I find out what the story is on this, I'm not making any more moves towards building anything w/ this block.



EDIT: I'll also mention that I do own the tools required to do a good bit of this checking, but do this type of stuff so infrequently that I'm looking for an experienced hand to do the measurements.