I hear ya....... but......
Even if you put the numerous Chevy block suppliers aside.........there’s the fact that you can get Pontiac blocks from two different sources.
Butler sells iron blocks for $3495 and aluminum blocks for $4495.
Kauffman sells their iron block for $3195, aluminum for $4795.
The Pontiac market is strong enough to support two suppliers of iron blocks, but the Mopar market isn’t strong enough to support any?
Well, I suppose if the iron block price is $5000 they probably won’t sell too many.
I don’t ever remember there being a “surplus” of mega blocks or world blocks available, even when they were in production.
They sold every one they made available.
If they weren’t making money on them...... add a few hundred bucks to the price.
I feel that if “affordable & available” blocks aren’t offered to the people interested in building mid to upper-mid level motors(700-1000hp) you’re going to see the support pieces for that performance level of the BB Mopar platform dry up in the not too distant future.
I’d say that Callie’s not offering the forged cranks for them anymore was the first indicator of that trend.
It’s like when TF came out their BB heads and a bunch of people were crying because it wasn’t a racy enough piece.
Not too many head manufacturers are going to build heads for a platform that has no blocks to use them on.
If I were looking to build a 800-1000hp motor, I wouldn’t be too keen on spending $7495 for a block, and having to wait 6-12 months to get it.
I’d just build something else and go racing.
I've made that pntiac analogy many times. Now the FE ford is getting new blocks. I say [ Moparts Family Site - Keep it Friendly ]? The FE was NEVER that popular that I know of. Never. Yet they they are. And someone down under I think is making 351C blocks and selling them like mad or has paid orders waiting from what I've been told.
Yet the Mopar guys get the [censored]. I still say it's not that we don't have the numbers of cars being built and raced that is killing the market. I say it's available BUYERS. That is BUYERS who are willing to pay for a block rather than buying a 50 year old OR block and filling the turd with cement, using aftermarket caps with a girdle and all that [censored].
At this point, the latter is more prevalent than the former.
