Update
Yes i bought the block today , its still got its yellow waxy antirust treatment on it . Looks like it may not have been out of the box even had a couple minor cobwebs .
Zippy it does have some , what i would call , shallow narrow machined grooves near mount ears .
Bird in one hand is better than smoke in the other .
Will post some pics when shipper delivers it late this week or next week .

Tex

Check the main seal alignment,

Check to see if the main studs are ARP, if not change them to ARP. I know they had some trouble with main seals, and a bad batch of main studs at some point if memory serves.

DT ,
yes I had heard of the studs not all being ARP . What I saw were marked ARP . So will fully confirm .
Will check alignment of rear main .

Tex

That's a good sign, as with everything manufactured by casting it's all relative to how much core shift they had.

Being the first guy most customers would come to with problems, I remember most of the more strange and/or catastrophic failures and errors, whether on the front end or the back end.

Physically check every oil and water passage thoroughly.

To oil the rocker shafts, instead of timed oil flow through the cam bearing, they use full time oiling directly from the oil galley. We recommended restrictors be used in those passages, and blocks were drilled and tapped for restrictors. However, most of the earliest blocks were missing those restrictors.

It's not out of line to pressure test everything. I have one I am working with now which I'm going to pressure test the oil passages just for piece of mind, that's going kind of far but when you consider what I've seen maybe it will be understandable

Good luck and let us know what you find.

I think that is the same block that I have. I never had any issues with my block. We bored it to size and put it together. No leaks, everything bolted on just fine and the rear main is nice and dry after a bunch of dyno pulls. I'm planning to sell my iron block later this year since I don't need it anymore but it has been good to me.

The World iron wedge block, 4.190 rough bore, I used to make a bracket race motor for a customer several years ago ended up NOT being machined completely flat around the oil pump mounting boss where the oil pumps slide into It was raised up around .003 right at the opening according to the machenist (SP?)that found it later after it twisted off the Milidon harden oil pump drive once it was warmed up.
I didn't see it or look for it, I didn't see anything on here about looking for that type of problem, make sure and check your first before machining it to use

Thanks guys

Andy , that shallow line is what this block looked like

Tex

If I remember our conversations from '07/'08 - ish, I think I remember the one you ordered was P5153944? Should find the number stamped in the front.

It's nice when things fall into place.

The issue was on the left side of the block, driver's side. For some reason in the first run or two, on the samples available to us the ditch was always deeper on the left. Resulting problems only happened twice in the whole run that I am aware of, but it was a concern. Most of them were fine. It had to have been 08 or 09 when we fixed it. I might be able to round up a picture of the late style block with all that cutting omitted.

Yep, mine is a 5153944 which is the rough bore 4.31 block. We bored mine to 4.440 so it is still 060 under 4.500. That appears to be the same block that Tex got.

I'm not sure I'd stop at 4.350 unless you already have pistons. Lots of piston choices at 4.375 which still leaves you with 0.125 for future rebuilds. That block should be good for 4.500 if not a little over that.

Wish I had a good reason to drive out to OR & ID to see family... AND a pocket full of $$$ to buy that block while I "just happened" to be in your neck of the woods.

[/quote]

I'm not sure I'd stop at 4.350 unless you already have pistons. Lots of piston choices at 4.375 which still leaves you with 0.125 for future rebuilds. That block should be good for 4.500 if not a little over that. [/quote]

Andy , I have the 4.350 , 0.030 over pistons , already from the cracked block . Got to budget somewhere

Tex

Nice pick up Tex, ya lucky I did not see it

Yes I am , it wasn't actually advertised

Tex

Im confident the blocks with the machining change were definitely shipping by Feb 1st 2011, such as this one. The ones with the rare issue were from 2008.

The "ghost" over the freeze plug boss on the left shows where the huge ditch was previously located. I was involved with this small refinement and remember it fairly well. Ok enough of that....let us know how your build is going, Tex.

Well I ca write a book of issues that I had with mine. Having said that it is the fourth one I have had and the only one with big issues. We are fairly certain I ended up with a "blem" piece. Oil pump mole mis machined, lifter angle incorrect etc etc...But it is all fixed and makes decent power now in the Stratus..

[quote=ZIPPY]The "ghost" over the freeze plug boss on the left shows where the huge ditch was previously located. I was involved with this small refinement and remember it fairly well. Ok enough of that....let us know how your build is going, Tex. [/quo3te]

Will, do . Shipper never advised me it had arrived , wil, wait till monday to pick up . Then post a couple pics .
Will likely take till end of year to get ready , then swap in

Tex

More pics
Machine at welch plug is about 0.060 deep
Measures about 13mm thick near mount as best i can measure . I want to mount a tq strap off upper ear above oil pump so that should be ok .
Casting mark from whoever cast block , CF ?
Not sure where date stamp is

Tex

That looks like a nicer one, to me.

I would guess it's either a 2011 or later, or it also may be an earlier one with minimal core shift.

The date and number stamp pad is on the front right hand side of the block, facing forward, between the pan rail and the fuel pump mounting pad.

Prior to this change, the ditch could sometimes be .250 + deep or more depending on how much core shift they had at that particular time.

I had attached a picture but felt it best removed, professional reasons + privacy of the original owner of the piece.