New Block
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,242
Likes: 3
From: Joliet, Illinois
Originally Posted by zigzkidz
I have a very good chance to get a new block made for my 6.9 so i can have a more reliable block, what kind of metal should i use?
Are you implying that you are going to attempt to have a billet diesel block made from scratch?
That "one off" "custom machined" block would cost TEN'S OF THOUSANDS of dollars, so you might as well go with Titanium!
When they cast engine blocks, what they have, is what you get.
There is no picking and choosing the matereal they cast it with.
Also, last I heard, they let the freshly cast blocks sit around to let them "season" for a couple of years before machining to reduce the possibility of some parts of them flexing into a different position.
If you are going to purchase a block and are looking for something custom you would need to look into custom racing blocks and no diesel 6.9 diesel was ever in any racing catalog I ever saw, even the Ford Performance catalog!
302, 351W, 351C, 460, and a few of the newer gas engines, yes, but there were design variations intended for serious racing, and I never saw a 6.9 Diesel available.
If there were I would love to be proved wrong.
Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 21,285
Likes: 16
From: Nutter Fort, WV
It would be much cheaper to go down to the local salvage yard and find an 86 or 87 6.9 block that had not been bored.
Spend the money on machine work and parts, not casting a block.
I have an uncle that does custom restorations on old cars, he has cast several blocks for cars where the parts are not available for any more.
Two I can remember he did were an 8 cylinder inline for a Auburn Boattail roadster and a V 12 motor for some old limo in the 30 era.
I don't remember the make any more, but the restoration was about 6 years long, it won the Grand National award at the first show.
Both those restorations were over 100,000 dollars each.
You don't run down to Advance Auto and get parts for these....
You make what you need to repair them.
And you get your wallet out for every part.
He always said, "If you have to ask how much it will cost, you can't afford to restore one."
That is Uncle Bill standing.
Spend the money on machine work and parts, not casting a block.
I have an uncle that does custom restorations on old cars, he has cast several blocks for cars where the parts are not available for any more.
Two I can remember he did were an 8 cylinder inline for a Auburn Boattail roadster and a V 12 motor for some old limo in the 30 era.
I don't remember the make any more, but the restoration was about 6 years long, it won the Grand National award at the first show.
Both those restorations were over 100,000 dollars each.
You don't run down to Advance Auto and get parts for these....
You make what you need to repair them.
And you get your wallet out for every part.
He always said, "If you have to ask how much it will cost, you can't afford to restore one."
That is Uncle Bill standing.
Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 21,285
Likes: 16
From: Nutter Fort, WV
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Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 21,285
Likes: 16
From: Nutter Fort, WV
Here are a few more on the other side of the shop.
And his favorite violin that he also rebuilt out of four pieces.
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