Aluminum Block found

[ezrollin]

GM had some of these blocks listed years ago.No way in hell would I pay four grand for one!What's the big deal?Put alum. heads on an iron block and you dropped ?? lbs. The amount of weight difference would only be a factor in some high dollar types of racing.Money would be better sent elsewhere.

[RedZMonte]

check this out.... might help answer a few questinos.

http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/performance_parts/store/catalog/Category.jhtmlCATID=172.html

[TheFly]

That joggs my memory I think its not only $4000 but you need to finish the machine work for what you want to use it in.

[carbon]

Its the Chevy Aluminum Bowtie race block... its an upgraded Gen1 block, as that was time period when it was released and is much beefier than a standard gen1 block... think SuperDuty 4 block vs. Iron Duke... Do a search on Pennocks and you will see where somebody got there hands on it.

Look at page 2 of this PDF...

http://www.s-series.org/htm/tech/GMPerfParts/144-148.pdf

10051141 - Bow Tie Aluminum Block
This heavy-duty aluminum block is 47 pounds lighter than a production rear-wheel-drive cast iron block. It has extra-thick cylinder walls with dry nodular iron sleeves. The head bolt bosses are reinforced to improve head gasket sealing. This block has wider main bearing bulkheads than a production cylinder case; four-bolt caps are installed on the two intermediate main bearings. These billet steel main caps have splayed outer bolts that provide additional bearing support. The aluminum Bow Tie V6/60º block features a revised lubrication system. The "priority main feed" oiling is similar to a Chevrolet small-block V8, with three oil galleries above the camshaft; production V6/60º blocks have only two oil galleries. Oil is routed directly to the main bearings in a Bow Tie block to ensure proper lubrication at high rpm. The main bearing saddles are grooved to increase the flow of oil to the crankshaft journals through additional feed holes drilled in the upper bearing inserts. Block weight is 59 lbs.

Technical Notes: Aluminum Bow Tie V6/60º engine blocks have rough-bored 89mm (3.504") cylinders which can be safely overbored to 91mm (3.582"). Light alloy Bow Tie blocks have bosses for both front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive engine mounts. The starter motor can be installed on either side of the block. The cylinder walls are non-siamesed, and the cylinder deck height is 8.820". Cylinder bore range is 3.525-3.582"; crankshaft journal diameter is 2.65"; all sump type is wet. This block has a 2-piece crankshaft seal and a design maximum stroke of 3.20". It is bossed for front or rear drive engine mounts. Intended for professional competition.

[Monzsta]

In one these 2 urls I think it says the aluminum block is 47 lbs lighter than the cast block.

The steel subframe/cradle for us W-body folk can be swapped for the later model aluminum one (impala's) for 40+ lbs... I estimate it closer to 60 lbs saved. I just scored a mildly bent one and will be stuffing it in my molting pig ASAP.

[Monzsta]

In one these 2 urls I think it says the aluminum block is 47 lbs lighter than the cast block.

The steel subframe/cradle can be swapped for the later model aluminum one (impala's) for 25+ lbs... I estimate it closer to 50 lbs saved. I just scored a mildly bent one and will be stuffing it in my molting pig ASAP.

Here's some info I found on it.

Underneath the hood of the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo rests an extruded aluminum engine cradle that is 37% (26 pounds) lighter than if it had been rendered in steel. The cradle is also more rigid and dimensionally accurate, say engineers.