Quote:
Originally Posted by jkg2101
In response to the original question on this thread, I am currently building my kirkham (finally received it!).
I purchased an assembled 'short block' from Blair Patrick (who I might add is very knowledgeable and did a great job, and is a true gentleman). He and I agreed right from the beginning to go with an iron block. I was able to get one of the BBM's in iron.
I am not thrilled about the offshore casting, but doing my part to support USA businesses.
I did not and don't personally see any reasonable reason to want aluminum. i recognize it may be more prone to some build trouble, and it is more expensive. I honestly don't think it affects resale price (but if I was in this for resale, then I have other problems anyway...)
I agree that many here have admitted it is more emotion and less logic that lead them to aluminum. My car will be every bit as nice with a well done sideoiler build in iron.
I do run aluminum heads and intake, for a variety of reasons (weight savings and nothing comparable in iron available).
justin
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Just facts first. I think I counted 8 owners of alloy blocks on this thread who said that the reason for buying an alloy block was weight. Your BBM weighs 250 lbs and my Shelby alloy block is 125 lbs. Pond's alloy block is 135 lbs. So the weight savings is NOT EMOTIONAL to those 8 alloy block buyers. You couldn't find any "reasonable reason" for alloy, but at least 8
actual buyers on this thread found "weight savings" as reasonable.
Personally, I think most of us here bought a Kirkham for the liberal use of lightweight aluminum throughout the car. And some of us said that installing an iron block in a virtually all aluminum Cobra makes/made no sense.
Finally, weight savings wasn't the only reason I bought my Shelby aluminum block. The Shelby block was made in America and, at the time of purchase, was about $1,000-$1,500 more than an iron block. So, the Shelby block price wasn't a major factor for me, relative to the entire Kirkham build. Also, the Shelby block could be made into a 526 or 527 one day, if i so desired. The other blocks at the time couldn't go that big. One last reason, semi-related, is that the Shelby block was considered "beefier" and had the Shelby-specific head studs, which allowed (for lack of a better verb/term) the Shelby alloy block to withstand a higher RPM before going "kablooey."
So my alloy purchase had zero to do with emotion and had everything in the world to do with weight savings, price, beefier build, and potentially bigger cubic inches than competitors.
As for resale, 66GTK, who seems to buy and sell quite a few Cobras, mostly ERA's I'd speculate, stated that a Cobra with an alloy block is more desirable or sell for a higher price than one with an iron block. And all other things being equal when evaluating a Cobra for purchase, I'd chose the Cobra with the alloy block too.
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