For a long time i have had a dream of building a Hemi for my A body. I don't know much about Hemi's except they cost a lot. 572 street/strip deal. This will be a long term project, but want to get the block and heads right away and collect the rest of the parts over time. Looking at two blocks, Bill Mitchell aluminum block 4.590x10.72 and the other the Indy Maxx aluminum block. The Indy is available in 4.500x9.980 also. Not sure which will be easier to fit my A body, but the short deck might be the ticket. Right now just curious to the quality of these 2 blocks and work need before assembly? Looks like the BM block comes with bushed lifter bores and is a little easier on the wallet than the Indy. Just looking for some opinions for now. Thanks

Weren't all the 1968 Hurst SS car standard deck heights 426 Hemi blocks with crossram intakes with Holley carbs. ?
they where and they fit fine, I put a crossram all iron Hemi in one of my old Dusters with elephant ears using the stock rear tranny crossmember with Hooker SS chassis headers, worked fine, lasted a long time and fast too

Yes, but i'm hearing that some had moved their steering box or the pass inner fender skirt needs modifying . Did the 68ss cars have inner fender skirts? I have a ton of questions on fitment and block pros and cons.

All that and more....We trimmed the steering box mount, moved the master cylinder, and still had to use a plate to put the engine where it would fit with everything. 572 gonna need a big header....

I talked to one of the SS/AH guys at Indy one year. He said they beat the shock towers back with a sledgehammer. He said some of the cars got body filler in the dents to smooth them out.

Gonna use a plate for sure, but what is the issue with the pass side inner fender skirt? I keep hearing the skirt needs to be modified to get the valve cover off. Would using the short deck block solve this issue?

Wow, I see. I know Jim Keyes mechanic, He's my trans guy. Maybe he can shed some light on this issue as well.

The Hurst cars had the pass. side sheet metal around the shock tower flattened, offset master cylinder plate added, steering box moved away from engine, spacers between the k frame and longitudinals.

I think the firewalll to floor weld flange was rolled back too.

Stop by and take a look at mine anytime. Are you talking about Reg, Jim Keyes buddy? Have know Jim for many years, I made a template off his Hemi Dart rear quarters for cutting the wheel-well openings on mine. Doing all the mods to fit the engine, is not as difficult as you think. It will even be easier using elephant ears for engine location. I have stock setup on mine.

One thing not mentioned yet is intake manifold availability for a low deck block. The choices might be limited. What you’re wanting to do has been done many many times.

Yes, Reg. I'm more of an acquaintance to Jim and Reg, but was a good friend to an old friend of theirs who has now passed. Real good people. Used to see Jim at the cars shows. I would very much like to take a look. I'll let ya know when i can get away for a bit. I need to have a talk with Reg about the durability of my trans behind a 572 Hemi with Stage 5 heads. My biggest concern is with the inner skirt.

That is a good point and will have to look into that as well. I have been reading something about 10 bolt heads, aren't they all 10? I still have alot of notes to take before pulling the trigger.

Forget the low deck at any price. Any price. So the real question is do you want the Bill Mitchell? The bore is too large, so I guess you will have to replace the sleeves. I'm guessing new sleeves will be $1,000 plus whatever someone charges you to replace them. I've never replaced the sleeves in a Bill Mitchell, I assume you need an oven. All this sounds like a $2,000 total bill to me. I know you say this is a low buck deal but I wouldn't take the Bill Mitchell either. This may sound strange but the cheapest Hemi blocks today are the new blocks. They are expensive. But they are the cheapest because of all the work it takes to get a dog block fixed up. I would borrow the money from the bank and seek out the best deal I could get on a new block of known quality.

People have been putting Hemis in A bodys for over 50 years. You can do it. But it's tight. In the next few months we are going to put one in my buddys 68 Dart. After 35 years of him wanting one.

There's no such thing as 10 bolt heads.

Yeah, well i'm in full learning mode here. How many bolts in a standard 426 Hemi head? As far as the bore goes, the block is offered in a 4.240 and 4.590 bore. I haven't checked , but thought there would be a piston for the 4.590 bore and if not it would have to be custom. My thought was, why would BM sell a block with that bore size if there is no piston available for it, so didn't give it anymore thought. I'm sure it will fit, i just want to know in advance so i can prep the engine bay before i get it on a hook.

Maybe it is a 4.490 bore. That way you can hone to 4.500. I do like the aluminum blocks. There are new iron Callies blocks on ebay now for $4,900.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gen-II-426-Hemi-Block-4-25-Inch-Unfinished-bore-at-4-245/333907434360?hash=item4dbe6f1b78:g:JDsAAOSwvtNgCIGZ

Hemi blocks are 17 head bolts. 13 regular bolts and 4 inner valley studs.

All the gen 2 based hemi blocks use 17 head bolts, it is the intake bolt holes that vary between the some of the race heads and the stock Mopar based street heads , 8 per side versus 10 per side, I think
I've never seen or used a all out race head yet so I may be wrong on this

There are a couple of different intake configurations.....Standard is 16 bolt...Two little bitty 1/4 bolts per port. Then there are the SS/AH heads with only 1 bolt per port also 1/4 and the other is welded up and then they port right thru it....Then there are Indy intakes with only 6 bolts for even bigger ports....where the bolts are centered between each port. There is a reason a single carb intake can now out run the cross rams of old.

So you will have to make a choice with a 572, typically 4.5 bore x 4.5 crank, run big ports or be constrained by the smaller bolts right next to stock ports.....I would pick and engine builder, and get all my parts from one source. If you don't, mixing and matching parts can be a real headache.

Some heads have the valves rotated and require certain pistons, etc...For me, If I were to build another, I would do a Callies Iron block, and probably Eddy heads.

But choose a builder like Bob George Racing or Ray Barton or Tim Banning right by you, and source all your parts thru one of them. Tim has some really awesome stuff he does and he only uses Stage V heads and they are not cheap, but his require no gaskets for the intake.

What are you looking at? Bill Mitchell Products BMP 088515
– Aluminum Engine Block Hemi Block 10.720 Deck, 4.490 Bore, Billet Caps
$5,895.75

BMP web link

I hate to ask, but what is the status on Keith Black blocks? When I go to the website all I see is t-shirts? Really?