quote:Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
That simply meant Ford added 5% more nickle into the metallurgical formula for the cast iron to strengthen it.
It was not something they liked to do because it made the block harder to machine.
I had one of those blocks as my first Cleveland build up in 1974 or 5 and when I went to pick it up from the shop the guy got all pissy and said don't ever come back here again with your "crap".
"That is some sort of special block and I had to resharpen the boring tool several times for each cylinder." That's what the shop said to me.
He then pointed to all of the x's and y's in the lifter valley. He said the other Cleveland blocks he had done did not have those.
He was wrong about those since at least all the D2AE-CA C's have them but who know's on the hardness of the block?
The Australian's claim they cast their blocks with more nickle? Who am I to disagree?
I think the guy that complained about resharpening the boring tools needs to get a life and some tungsten carbide tooling.
All the 351c and 302cs here are the blocks with the x's and y's except for some US imports and even the most crap machine shop can bore them without any big deal.
Sounds like he was using high speed steel and was used to having it easy and boring out soft as butter Chevy blocks.
Telling you not to come back to his shop was probably the best thing he did as i would advise to stay away from any shop that couldn't bore a D2AE-CA.
