Little M vs. Iron Eagle vs. Motown

[CNC BLOCKS]

Re: Re:

We machine a lot of blocks and I would stay away form the World blocks as we have seen to many problems with those blocks as far as cam tunnel problems and alignment problems as they use stock type cam bearings all different sizes like the OEM blocks use. The last World block we bought was filled to the bottom of the freeze plugs with epoxy and the customer refused the block and World would not take it back and it was untouched.

The Darts require a little more work as far as lifter bore sizing, Line honing, Decking, Boring and Honing, and there are 7 water holes on each deck that have to be gasket matched for cooling. The cam tunnel is 2 inch all the way through like the Bowtie blocks.

The Iron Eagle requires an external oil filter.

We sell the Dart Little-M Sportman all CNC machined for 2395.00 and shipped free in the U.S.

A little thread highjack here...
The new cheaper Dart blocks i see in the Summit catalogue and some other places, whats the whole idea with those?
It seems to me like they have traded material thickness and strength for some more ready-to-run features?
Have you worked with these new blocks and if so, what can you say about them?

Those blocks are top of the line and so far we have seen no problems with them so far, and we sell the 600 dollars cheaper all machined then the Sportsman blocks. They are truely a good buy but I am sure you see a price increase in the next 2 months.

Here is a good link to look over
http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12112

 

[Got Torque]

Re: Re:

Those blocks are top of the line and so far we have seen no problems with them so far, and we sell the 600 dollars cheaper all machined then the Sportsman blocks. They are truely a good buy but I am sure you see a price increase in the next 2 months.

Here is a good link to look over
http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12112[/quote]

Thank you for all the good info and the interesting link. It's not hard to see to where i should turn when it's time for a
high performance block of any kind in the future!
I'm a perfectionist just like you Carl, and if i'm lucky i will need your services in a year or two.
Thanks again.
/Mike

 

[boyzbad]

Carl is it! I have been running mine all season with zero issues. My builder was impressed with Carl's work. He is a very smart guy and knows his stuff. When you buy a block fully machined from Carl it is truely a turn key deal.

 

[Got Torque]

Carl is it! I have been running mine all season with zero issues. My builder was impressed with Carl's work. He is a very smart guy and knows his stuff. When you buy a block fully machined from Carl it is truely a turn key deal.

That's exaclty what i demand when i buy stuff. -Perfection in every way, and i'd rather pay a little if i can extra to know it will get done spot on by someone with great knowlegde and expertise.

Before i forget it, do you assemble shortblocks at all Carl?
You have the equipment and knowledge to assemble a shortblock set up for boost with a few extra tricks in it, but would you if i told you what kind of extras i would like to have except the obvious high end US madse rotating assy?
I might as well bring the thread on track again and ask you which one of the aftermarket blocks you have machined has the best longevity and punishment resistance? I saw that that it's possible to order the dart blocks in compacted Graphite....is that the ultimate strength/durability bock there is or is there a catch?

 

[CNC BLOCKS]

Carl is it! I have been running mine all season with zero issues. My builder was impressed with Carl's work. He is a very smart guy and knows his stuff. When you buy a block fully machined from Carl it is truely a turn key deal.

That's exaclty what i demand when i buy stuff. -Perfection in every way, and i'd rather pay a little if i can extra to know it will get done spot on by someone with great knowlegde and expertise.

Before i forget it, do you assemble shortblocks at all Carl?
You have the equipment and knowledge to assemble a shortblock set up for boost with a few extra tricks in it, but would you if i told you what kind of extras i would like to have except the obvious high end US madse rotating assy?
I might as well bring the thread on track again and ask you which one of the aftermarket blocks you have machined has the best longevity and punishment resistance? I saw that that it's possible to order the dart blocks in compacted Graphite....is that the ultimate strength/durability bock there is or is there a catch?

I also run an engine shop where we build alot of circle track engines and when we have time we build some street and strip engines and some marine engines since we are in the lakes region of our state and if we get lucky the customer will let us dyno their engine and let us tune it in for them as well.

And we do assemble quite a few shortblocks for customers.

Thanks for your interest Carl Hinkson

 

[noissesboyobyalp]

dont buy world stuff, bill mitchel is a jerk!

 

[Anonymous]

im new here but i run an iron eagle std deck hight raised cam location..
if your looking to buy a block buy the best, you wont have to upgrade its cheaper the 1st time ..i love my iron eagle more area on the side w/o the oil filter for headers and the spread pan rail and raised cam allow alot of room for growth ..
you do have to machine the vents and return holes in the lifter valley and run a remote mount filter but in the end i would go with the iron eagle or aluminum dart blocks ..my 2 cnts ..

actually if i had to do it againg id be running a 572 bb on pump gas ..

 

[beefcurtains]

I have a question about DART blocks...Would you feel safe to run a Dart SHP block with a Procharger? I know the little "m" would be the "best". I just see the "m" block as more of a marketing thing ( I guess). The SHP block is "rated" for up to 600hp...and we've all seen factory GM blocks making that kind of HP for years and working just fine, so I would think the SHP would handle a bit more and be ok, instead of paying for the "M" block.

The motor I want to build is a 377 with an F1 or F1R (maybe F2?) procharger,AFR 227 heads,solid roller cam,victor jr intake,lunati rods/w ARP bolts, and SRP pistons, running on E85 fuel. This will be street motor with some strip use of course.

 

[ProJunk]

I have a question about DART blocks...Would you feel safe to run a Dart SHP block with a Procharger? I know the little "m" would be the "best". I just see the "m" block as more of a marketing thing ( I guess). The SHP block is "rated" for up to 600hp...and we've all seen factory GM blocks making that kind of HP for years and working just fine, so I would think the SHP would handle a bit more and be ok, instead of paying for the "M" block.

The motor I want to build is a 377 with an F1 or F1R (maybe F2?) procharger,AFR 227 heads,solid roller cam,victor jr intake,lunati rods/w ARP bolts, and SRP pistons, running on E85 fuel. This will be street motor with some strip use of course.

The "M" block is quite a bit more than just a marketing thing. As good as the new SHP block is, the Little M is 10 times the block that the SHP is. Granted, 600 h.p. is likely a very safe and conservative rating for the SHP block, but I probably wouldn't want to throw more than maybe 800-ish at it if I were building a high-h.p. deal that I wanted to last a while without a ton of maintenance. Even though it's a Dart block, it is cast from a different material than the Little M and Iron Eagle castings. This material is still better than 30+ year old GM iron, but there are other limiting factors to the construction of this block. The deck surfaces are not as strong due to the large coolant ports cast into the decks. The main caps are made of nodular iron, and, while the center three are splayed, the outer bolts are only 3/8", and the front & rear caps still feature only two fasteners, where as the Little M features 7/16" outer fasteners on the center three and 4-bolt caps on the front & rear. The cylinder walls, while thicker than comparable GM castings, are still substantially thinner than a Little M block. With your proposed combination, even with an F1, you're talking about an engine that would comfortably make well over 1,000 horsepower when you lean on it. The SHP block is not up to that task, at least not for a very long time. Even the Little M will start to beat up the main bearings at 1,000 h.p. if you stay with nodular caps instead of upgrading to the billet steel caps.

 

[boyzbad]

If your really serious about building and or getting a block. I highly recommend that you contact Carl Hinkson on here or the Bullet aka. CNC Blocks His web site is being redone right now. I purchased a block from him 2 years ago and he machined it to my specs. My engine guy I use here locally was very impressed with his work and comunication (along with the price). Carl will recommend what you should do and you'll likely get many years of service out of it.