NEW DART SHP BLOCK (PICS)
 

Finally got one of the new SHP block in from Dart, So far I have measured the lifter bores and they measure .8443 no taper, The center main cap came with no washer under the head of the bolt. I disassembled the mains caps cleaned caps and hardware and relubed the washers and the bolts with CMD-3 and retorqued and the rear main cap was 2.6407 the 3 center caps were 2.641 and front cap is 2.6408 as this will have to be addressed with a line hone.

I noticed the freeze plug holes on the sides of the blocks are chamfered and the freeze plug holes in the front and rear and cam plug are not chamfered.

It does look like the cam tunnel can be machined for BBC and 50MM cam tunnel with no issues.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...HPBLOCK001.jpg

Pic of the front of the block and the main caps, 7/16 bolts down the center and the outter bolts on the splayed caps are 3/8
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...HPBLOCK004.jpg
Just under the oil filter pad can be drilled and taped to 3/8 and dry sumped in this area.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...HPBLOCK005.jpg
Pic of the lifter galley as it shows it set up for factory roller lifters.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...HPBLOCK006.jpg
Pic of the oil pan side of the block and it has been stroker clearanced.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...HPBLOCK007.jpg

I will have this block in the CNC machine Friday to probe the block out for blue print locations and I will post what I find later in the day. Carl

So far it looks to be a clean peice and I noticed the water jackets are clean compared to the Little-M blocks that always seems to be full of shavings and trash!!

Its sure better then any of the GM OEM blocks we have bought lately and far better then any 400 block ever built. LOL

This block is about 500 to 600 dollars cheaper then a Dart Sportsman block.

Thanks for the info so far, and looking forward to what your blueprint process shows. One of these might be in my next build...

We I probed the SHP block out today and I was very pleased with the lifter bore locations and the cylinder in X-location which is from front to rear were with in .001

Now the cylinders in Y-locations which is intake to exhaust we found the cylinders on the odd side to #1 was .003 out of location and cylinders #3#5#7 were .004 out.

Now cylinders #2 #4 were out of location .007 #6 was .006 and #8 was .005 out of location.

Compared to an 010 block where the worst one we have seen was .032 out of location this Dart block is a good peice.

The deck on the odd side the high measurement was 9.0259 and lowest measure was 9.0224 which is .0035 differance

The deck on the even side the high measure ment was 9.0282 and the lowest measurement was 9.0230 which is .0052

From front to rear both decks we with in .0006

Now the Ed from Edvanced engines claims the Dart blocks he buys from Dart are with in .0002 from side to side heres the link on this http://forums.racingjunk.com/viewtop...704&highlight= and Ed has no equipment to do his work with and I wonder how he is measuring this??? any how.

Before any one gets say anything I ask Dick at the PRI-SHOW who runs Darts machine shop about the locations being off a little and his comment was we ROUGH machine 150 blocks a week and its up to the engine builder to make sure its finished machined to blue print, If a customer wanted a blue printed block they could surely machine one but it would surely cost some extra money.

Also the cam tunnel placement was good as well.

All in all the SHP block is great foundation to start with, I was very pleased with my findings today and all we will do is dial the block in just a little closer. Compared to the 400 and 350 OEM blocks we have seen over the years the SHP block is a great peice and I can see just using a block like this you can make more power over a stock GM block. Carl

Carl what is the weight difference between this block and the 350 010?

Compared to the old 010 block its around 8 to 10 pounds heavier

Thanks Carl-When will you have some of these blocks available?

Hey Carl,

Just curious, what do you do with the lifter bores if they are good to specs? do you give them a little more clearance, and leave them as they are or do you bush them and put them dead on. Also i saw the block in the pics. Does it have cast iron mains or cast steel mains like the dart little "M" blks. Just curious, because i bought a little "M" block that had cast iron caps.

zip.

I have one extra one coming in this week if interested

This lifter bores we probed out are fine as the Darts and Bowtie blocks the lifter bores are fine right out of the box, Most shops go to .875 or .904 depending on there build, We hardly ever bush back do to the expence.

We bore gauge all the lifter bores to make sure they are not to to tight.

Those caps are nodular iron caps and are one and half times stronger thenthe a standard GM grey cast cap. It is the same cap as far as material as the Little-M Sportsman block

Some more info on the SHP blocks
http://gallery.barrymorrison.com/alb...chure-1v2a.pdf