Do you not like the Callies/Energy one, or is it just because there is no other competition in the market? I just bought one, it showed up in a couple weeks and so far looks ok but I've been warned the lifter bores are tight, and it's still going to need a light decking and finish hone. I figured 700 hp on motor + nitrous was gonna kill a stock block eventually and instead of being cheap I wanted to do it once and do it correctly.

Like you pointed out, it's about the only real area where we have to pay the Mopar tax, there isn't a more economical iron block option. Building a new motor from scratch I definitely see your points, the cost really isn't drastically different, especially going with made in USA stuff. Pistons, cranks, rods, cams, bearings, valvetrain, etc are all closer (or the same) to Chevy prices than I thought they would be. The only area where it seems the Chevy/Ford stuff is substantially cheaper is in the Chinese knockoff market, where they have more options to choose from... especially for SBC/LS/SBF.

I also agree that the stock replacement BBM head market is saturated, there are plenty of options with arguably too much overlap.