[Barry_R]

I've done several now. I think we received about 8 or 9 iron ones and a larger number of aluminum. So far they have been pretty decent. Not perfect, but few things truly are. All have been built or are in process somewhere with a single exception noted below.

The first run of iron ones had a couple teething problems. A machining index issue on the oil feel hole from the oil pump put the passage too deep into the casting and we had to repair those (not too hard and a nearly invisible fix). One of them has a failed water jacket core where a glob of iron broke free and caused the casting alongside the starter to develop a crack as it cooled. That one has been fixed - not pretty but functional - and will likely be my EMC entry this year.

Bill's aluminum one ran pretty well here with no real issues. (OK - an oil pressure line blew off during a pull and I fell on my ass when I ran into the dyno cell to see what happened...but that had nothing to do with the engine.)

I have a few others in process as well. Truthfully, the aluminum looks better than the iron ones as far as visuals go. The very first aluminum one I had here (a cut up prototype - not Bill's) showed a leak in the oil feed leading to the deck when I pressure tested it - like an original block sometimes had. I was not able to duplicate it, so it could have just been "me", but I decided to sleeve them in any case out of fear/confidence/caution.... They are now vacuum impregnating the aluminum ones which should help insure a leak free casting.