383???

[2059]

Don't know if this is true or not but always heard that the -# (7) stood for how many times the mold was used.

See if this makes any sense? Since I'm now in possession of a 383, I've been doing some research. From what I gather the -# (in this case 7) is how may times the mold was changed (as opposed to used). Molds were used hundreds of times but after a number of cycles (uses) they need to be changed out for new ones. the new mold was made from the original spec. So as I understand it, the block casting off a new mold, no matter the version (#1-#7 and beyond) would still be within machine-able tolerance from the first to last. It make sense to me as we run into that issue at work where we can only get so many hundred fiberglass parts off of a mold before we need to have a new one built. and the replacement is built from the orig engineering drawing as the first.

opinions?

 

[moper]

My opinion is hte mold number is almost irrelevant. If you look you can see certain areas that might indicate core shift. Are the bolt holes entered in their respective casting bumps, if you look in the core holes are the bores equidistant from each other, etc. The actual number has no correlation to the quality of the job the casting monkeys did. Mopars are well know for very poor casting quality, and my sonic tester has proved it over and over again. That all being said - for a stock displacement engine being built between 1 and 1.8hp per inch - almost any block will do. I'd gladly have a smaller amount of overbore than the additional displacement. So keep the overbore to a maximum of .030 over if you're worried, and go for it.

 

[2059]

Hey Moper,

That was part of what I was trying to get to. Thanks for your follow up.