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Old 06-16-2010, 05:41 PM
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Cobra Make, Engine: KMP 539, a Ton of Aluminum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ng8264723 View Post
I would rather have an iron block in a street car. Barry from survival recomended iron to me. You really don't need to save 125 pounds off a 2300 pound car with 550-600HP. I will handle fine the way it is. Also a toploader is much stronger than a tremec. I wanted the fifth gear which is why I went with the tremec.
chris
There's no doubt that Barry R loves Genesis blocks and if anyone is going to buy one, then they should get it from him or Keith Craft not directly from Genesis. Barry R runs Genesis blocks exclusively (or it seems) in his Engine Masters entries. However, the OP asked the question should he build his 428 or get a CSX block.

At the time that I was shopping, a Genesis cast iron block was right around $3,800 +/-. I paid $5,500 with the special head studs. At the time, I felt the extra money was a "rounding error" when I built my Kirkham and the weight savings was huge factor for me. It's like a adult female model sitting on the front of your car.

Where does one stop with the installation of aluminum parts? Why not run a cast iron intake or water pump? How about an original starter versus a mini-starter? Jag rear end or the aluminum rear end? Steel scattershield versus a Quicktime? Lightweight crank? Aluminum rods? Etc. Cobras run hot too and aluminum blocks dissipate heat better.

Finally, IMHO, the Kirkhams seem to have gone through a lot of trouble through the years and iteration of their Cobra to reduce the weight of their car to make it better (handling too). Installing a cast iron block seemed incongruous to me.
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