Ive been watching this thread for awhile and finally decided to chime in. The 4.5 bore block I received in April states Hemi #5 of 17 on crate with the current mopar pn however DOES appear to have been in a warehouse for quite some time.
When you say it appears to have been in a warehouse, do you mean some of the machined surfaces look they have been done for awhile? Did you guys get these blocks from a local Mopar dealers?
It seems they are trickle feeding these blocks out as they can machine them. Dealers themselves don't get any clear communication on block production scheduling.
A tip to anyone receiving one of these blocks check the quality of the machining immediately. I was meeting with one of our dealers last week who received a MP cast iron HEMI block that had pushrod notches machined so close the the cylinder bores that a head gasket will never seal it. It is not possible to adequately repair machining errors in critical areas like this. If you don't get back to MP within the 30 day limited warranty period it's tough luck.
Be sure to check this.
