Pontiac has more than 1 option for blocks at a decent price in both aluminum and iron, while even !!!OLDSMOBILE!!! has an iron block available that according to one of Old's top builders I spoke with is.................."bad ass".
That you can't pick up the phone and order (then get) a quality small/big/HEMI MOPAR water block, is not only pathetic, it's enough to get a lifetime MOPAR guy (myself, for example) to build a Dart Big M Pro block with MBE Big 9 heads..........or something similar, on a future build.
A sad state of affairs that has gone on for too long.
Like I heard a lifelong Mopar guy explain when asked why his dragster has a big Big Block GM in it. "I can spend 25k and go 4.40s and not wait on it or I can spend 35k, wait, and go 4.90s."
IF I switch, I'll switch all of it. I won't put a GM engine in a Chrysler product that I own.
I sold one of my 2 cars and when the other goes, I'm relocating across countr. When I get settled in, my next car will be a 67' Chevy II with a Whipple screw GM style big block. It's painful, but I don't wanna' be in position where the foundation for a good powerpant is unobtainium. What....send a rod in an iron block and you're out of business for who knows how long??? Forget about it.
I would NEVER stick a non-MOPAR engine in a MOPAR car, so it's gotta' be the whole package and at least the Chevy II looks good and you can get a complete 65# carbon body for under 10K.
If it was just a racecar, there are plenty of good HEMI options to choose from and that would be the way I'd go, but I like to drive stupid stuff around town.
