Why would the jug style block not be a good choice if in my case I want 358 or less cubes and I am limited on turbo size so I want a short stroke higher rpms. Would the jug style block not work as well with an oring?

That block should be perfect to high hp turbo, it has all that is needed; both strength and good cooling. You should not expect headgasket problems, keep the max cylinderpressure fair. If you need more with O-ring, then you must make your own coppergaskets. Should not be a big issue either.

I am not sure how the titanium exhaust valves take the heat, but these valves are small and could be substituted with stainless steel.

Sounds like a good idea, if you need the power !

How much HP are you looking to make?

The only problem I've been told about is the open deck. When the cylinder pressures get high I was told that head gasket failure is prone to happen due to the minimal area sealing off the cylinders. This is just what I've heard.

Other than that these engines can take some serious power and are a blast to drive...

you should have no problems at all, i have several r5p7'engines, with 20 head bolts and a cometic gaskets i see no problems, the cylinder wall thickness at the deck after the engine is at final bore size is like .500 if you cant seal a head gasket with that then i dont know what will work.

Doesnt matter what block you have when your at 5 hp/ci. The trick is controling the fuel. If you lean it out, they all fail.

Some guys at Jesel built a turbo r5/p7 with good results in that power range. There was some info posted on their site a while back. Check it out.

I had the same Idea once and after looking at the Honda Guys with the same Floating Cylinder configuration and all the issues and ways they came up with to fix it when using boost I decided against it.

Having second thoughts about that now!!

These engines make 700-800hp N/A easy!!

Add 15psi which isn't really a lot and you should have your 1400hp!!!

If you need custom head gaskets both Cometic and SCE will do what ever you need.

The issue the Honda Guys were having is the Heads would lift and the Cylinders would shift. But they were also running 9000-12000 rpms and 25-35psi boost to make 600-800hp. They had 2 fixes that I seen. 1: was a plate that fit down in the water-well around all cylinders giving the block some what of a deck and stabilizing the cylinders. 2: was dowels into the cylinder jugs that also went into the the head, that way even if the head lifted the cylinder wouldn't shift. Neither of which I would want to hassle with.

If you can still get the R5/P7's for $6500 like you could 2 yrs ago. Do yourself a favor and invest in EFI if your going to run a Turbo.