What's the appeal of an aluminum engine block?

[YerDugliness]

Originally Posted by blykins

Here's the thing.....Dart and Ford Racing make a lot of aluminum Windsor blocks. High quantity. I have a little more faith in them just because of the number of blocks that are sold and the fact that a very large company/foundry is casting them.

With that being said, a Dart aluminum block sells for about $6000. A For Racing block sells for $4200. Considering that you have to pay that much for one and you will actually make less horsepower with an aluminum block, if you're not shooting for a specific curb weight or racing in a class, my advice would be to pass....

Thanks for that info, Brent! It makes sense to go iron if that makes more HP, I wasn't aware that was the case.

That makes my future plans a bit less demanding. I can get significant lightening up front with alloy heads, water pump, etc. My car is not a racer at all, more accurately a daily driver. With the 1989 block in my replica being one of the more desirable of the 5.0s (roller lifters, hypereutectic pistons) I can see much more clearly the build parameters now.

Cheers!

Doug