Reply to "Bud Moore Block?"

John,

that's the block commonly called the NASCAR block, the XE block or the Australian block.

They were cast for Ford's race teams, because the production blocks would crack under hard use, the Cleveland was making more bhp per cubic inch than any other small block Ford ever had, and the good ol' thin wall casting was biting Ford's racers in the butt. The production blocks were cracking in the bulkheads above the main bearing saddles and in the cylinder walls.

The NASCAR block has thicker bulkheads above the main bearing saddles. Plus the pan rails are thicker as well. The block weighs about 20 lbs heavier than the production block. The cylinder walls may be a tiny bit thicker than those of the production block, but they are not siamesed. Core shift has always been a problem with thin wall cast blocks, sometimes resulting in cylinder walls that are marginal in thickness. This was the case with the NASCAR block as well, so the blocks were tested in Australia and only those with minimal core shift were exported to the US for Ford's race teams. Those that were left behind were installed in production vehicles in Australia.

A later batch of NASCAR blocks, cast around 1980, had bulges in the side of the block to increase the water jacket area around the cylinders. These lumpy looking blocks are referred to as "pillow blocks". They have the same XE192540 casting number.

I have read in the past that the blocks were cast from iron with higher nickle content, but that would be hard to prove without some sort of hardness testing. That same claim is made for other blocks cast in Australia too.

Normally the NASCAR block does not fetch so much money, as is being asked in the auction on e-bay. This one has never been used, and istherefore more valuable than a used block. But $4K seems high, I think it would sell quickly at $3K. I saw that same block being auctioned at the same price a couple of weeks ago, so it didn't sell the first time around.

Your friend on the DTBB, George

below is a side by side pic of a production block & the NASCAR block. I hope you can make out the difference in bulkhead thickness in the picture. The NASCAR block is on the left.