Reply to "Bud Moore Block?"

> The Geelong Foundry is located in Norlane, Victoria, Australia.

Interesting. I hadn't heard that.

> That motor had siamesed cylinders, I am almost certain

Did you check to see the liners touched? I also came a cross a block that
seemed to weigh more than it should. In that case, it turned out to have a
half fill of hard block.

> It makes sense to me as well that the blocks were all cast identical.

It's certainly possible there was a third batch made. If so, they are
exceedingly rare. I tend to believe someone like Kaase when he says he had
one.

> It said XE, I knew NASCAR blocks were XE blocks, that is as far as I went
> with it back then, I assumd I was working on a NASCAR block. I did not know
> other XE blocks & SK blocks even existed, I had never heard of them.

I'm told XE means experimental and SK stands for sketch. Lots of low rate
or even one-off parts got these part number pre-fixes. I wouldn't rule out
anything.

> Last fall I ran across a picture on the 'net of an XE block with the casting
> number XE182540. So, there are other XE blocks floating around out there
> beside the NASCAR block.

Agreed. I've heard of the XE182540 part number but haven't come across one.

> So, in my opinion, when you find somebody who swears they have had a Cleveland
> block with siamesed bores or some other odd feature not found on a NASCAR
> block, I believe the explanation is that it WAS NOT a NASCAR block, but it was
> an XE block. Make sense? I'm sure that explains my situation.

Makes sense to me. I wouldn't even rule out a third batch of XE192540 part
number blocks.

> First, if the bulkheads are thicker, how do they not interfere with the bore?
> Engineering wise, to me the bore, center to center spacing would create the
> dimension for the main cap. You can't change that dimension unless you make
> the block longer.

I'm not exactly sure to what you arre referring but, in general, it's not that
all the dimensions are greater. It's that the dimensions are not reduced in
certain areas. An example is the pan rail. A standard 351C pan rail is
scalloped below the rail. The XE block carries the full thickness all the way
down.

> Second, I thought the trick of using screw in water plugs wasn't a trick but
> virtually a necessaty? I've heard it strengthens the block about 10%.

Some XE blocks have had them added after the fact. It just takes a big
honking tap but the Boss 302 screw-in core plugs are available.

> Also, I would run a full girdle.

Girdles seem to come in and go out of fashion. Some builders like 'em and
others hate them. The Roush type straps on my first XE block are for
minimizing cap walk, the tendency of the bolt head on one cap to move towards
and way from each other under high RPM. This can cause the main caps to fret
against the block. A friend had that happen to a 5.0L block that had a full
girdle. If you go with a girdle, I'd stick with one that is made of iron or
steel on an iron block. I don't like the idea of aluminum girdles on iron
blocks given the difference in thermal expansion.

> But what is a siamese bore?

Siamese bore means the cylinder liners within the block actually touch so that
no coolant flows between adjacent cylinders.

Dan Jones