[PatBurke]

I don't have any here yet but I will soon. Just got back from the PRI show in Indy and Genesis had a display set up with a stock SO, thier iron block, and an early aluminum prototype. The iron block wieghs 235 lb, has lifter valley reinforcment ribs (like the Shelby), a beefier skirt and main saddle, siamese bores, .770" thick deck, deeper head stud engagment, and a bore capability of 4.400". The current blocks have cast main caps but there will be an eventual change to billet caps w/ the option of double 3/8" crossbolts.

As I understand it these first few blocks were'nt available to the general public as they are in a semi-finished condition and Genesis would prefer to see them go to racers that will use them up in thier own program and offer some feedback. As of this weekend I believe that all of them are spoken for. The production blocks should be shipping shortly with the aluminum sometime in the beggining of 2003. Don't quote me on any of this but that's the impression I got.

We will be building a twin to our Shelby blocked race engine, complete with big 4.375" bore, using one of these iron blocks. I'm curious to see how much HP the iron block is worth and if the benifit will outwiegh the extra nose weight in our drag car. We will also try some strategic milling to see how much weight we can take out of the iron block.