hkmp5 Mike Let me play the bad guy for a minute.
Here's the questions
1 Who said it was a Side oiler block??
2 The block has the ability to be a side oiler if it's drilled out on the back left side of the block. Rousch did this testing on a 390 for a build about 10 years ago. There is not pressure valve or 2 plugs in the back side.
3 What are you looking for in this car?? Originally, street car, track car, You have not said what replica car you have looked into buying??
4 There are 3 companies that manufacture FE blocks both in iron and aluminum. If this block was in cosmoline and you where looking for a 100 point cobra to build, this would be a good starting point. As others have said this block is a service block or solid lifter one. Center oiler is how this crank and rods gets
oil.
5 I am going to go back to my first post, The ONLY way I would buy this block is with a sonic test and pressure test done to it. I want to know how thick the cylinders are. Ask the machinist to check straightness of the crankmains.
You will need to check out the prices of the Shelby, Ponds and Genises blocks for prices. I have 2 shebly blocks. Been racing one for 14 years with a 452 setup and now a 482 stroker kit I got from Barry R. Great kit, Great power range. The block is 16+ years old. Other guys worry about this I don't. If your build is in the 450-500HP range I see no problem with this block. Limit the rpms to 6,000 and it will last for years without anything other than
oil changes and basic maintainance. If the block is new, it has no heat cycles and everything could move around in the casting. Us old racer used to look for motors that had 100K miles on them for being better blocks to work with. At this age they are very solid and broken in. You will need a good machinist that KNOWS FE motors. I can't enforce this enough. It's not a Dodge, GM, or AMC motor, whole different specs and build needed to get long life out of it.
Bottom line if the block passed all the test, 3,000.00 to 3,500.00 dollars for the orginial look. After this I would go after market and paid a little more for a new product. I think knocking about 200 pounds of the front of your car would also be something to look at. Aluminum block is 125, Iron is over 200. Heads in aluminum are about 15-18 pounds, Iron ones are in there 30's. Intake manifold is the biggie with iron being about 70-90 pounds and Aluminum in the 25 pound range. Big Block power on small block weight. If you want this block than buy it. I think more research needs to be done.
Last note, I used to be a solid lifter guy in my younger years. I have since gone to building endurance motors that make great torque in the 600ft pound level and not worry about 600HP. With the correct gears and trans ratios in the car you can have both worlds of 1/4 mile accelleration and street cruising. There are some good 5-6 speed trannies for this. Again you get what you pay for in cost. Rear end ratio should be in the 3.31-3.73 depending on the rearend. Transmission 1st gear in the 2.80's, any thing higher and you will never use it. I have a 3.25 1st gear and a 3.05 first gear in another trans and never use them except to drive around the pits. I know I will get a little flack with this but solid lifter motors don't like to be idling for any time the valve lash will cause wear and tear on the bottom of the lifters and the camshaft lobes. Solid lifter motors need splash of the
oil to live because of the oiling system in some blocks. Your oil is going to be very important of what you run in this motor and how long it will last. Rick L. Ps You might want to call Barry R. or goto the Barnes &Noble book store and find his book about FE motors. Alot of great info and what to look for.