Originally Posted by pittsburghracer
Originally Posted by cudadoug
Originally Posted by pittsburghracer
... As far as deck plates I personally don’t use them. How long does a dead prefectly machined block in the machine shop stay perfect when the crank is bolted in place with 8 rods and spinning 7200 rpm. Now throw in the “heat factor). What does the block do when at Racing temps. Do you think it stays perfect like in the machine shop. Your guess is as good as mine but I’m thinking no.


The lack of a deck plate use surprises me. I thought that was standard in any HP build. The difference is plate honing cost is minimal in my area, so why not make every effort to maintain block integrity?



I Feel my junk runs pretty good without it. I guess the R3 block in my Duster now has been bored with deck plates but not by me, and when I rebuild it over the winter I will be hand honing it myself. My machine shop that I use probably doesn’t even have a small block Mopar deck plate. I never bothered to ask.

When I took my 4.380" RB block in to get a touch-up hone before the last reassembly, the machinist who does my block work now told me he tried to do it w/ a torque plate first, but it distorted the cylinders too much. That surprised me because when the block was bored to 4.380" by another shop (who, even if still in business, I won't deal with) I specifically paid to have the block deck-honed... and the receipt states clearly that I paid the additional charge for it.

I told this to the machinist and his response was: "Well, he may have put a torque plate on it... but he sure as He11 didn't tighten it down." This guy prepped my other block, which is a 4.375" finished-honed w/ a torque plate. And I've been wondering even before this thread started whether the 4.375" block done "right" will actually make any more power than the "tired" 4.380" block w/ out-of-round bores and excessive piston-to-wall clearances. I'm not sure I'd bet on even a 10 HP improvement, but a scientific A-B comparison test ain't gonna happen, much as I'd like to know.