How many stage II blocks were produced ?

[boostjunkie]

LOL...just remembered that he got to "dumpster dive" through experimental and Indy stuff too

Man would I love to do that

 

[Mike T]

Mike, looking at pics of my block. It doesn't have the "hard ribs" where your oil pan bolts are located. Weird, never noticed that. I will check my other motors.

So far you have the only cross bolted center bolt block/pics. Maybe yours looks a little different because of the extra material my friend was referring to?

 

[Mike T]

On center 153 with all mains being four bolt doesnt have dipstick either.View attachment 315777 View attachment 315778

What number is on the front or that jewel?

 

[Nick Micale]

From my info in the late '90's was that the last batch of 50 Stage II castings were machined in 2 batches.

When Buick Motorsports put out the word no more stage blocks would be available, the demand for the last 25 blocks was machined and sold out quickly.

 

[rag231]

I am still trying to go thru some old pictures that were taken in the day. I went to an engine machine shop back in 97 and they had several of the 53' trailers that were used as storage. There was one trailer with just v6 stuff in it, slammed full of complete 4.3 Chevys ( long track motors) and 4.1 Buicks ( short track motors), INDY stuff and a little drag mixed in. The trailer had a rail that ran down the center with a pulley on it to get anything on or off the racks. He told me to go in there and pick out what i wanted and then he would give me a price. There had to be at least 100 Buick motors, good and bad blocks, racks of cranks, heads and other stuff. Pretty much everything that i didnt take was sold at a racers auction for the dirt track cars. You can still a few pics in the stage 2 tech thread. NC was a holy grail for stage 2 parts.

 

[TURBOELKY]

View attachment 315805 And how many are left.....bye

 

[Mike T]

Ok...a little more info, another friend just texted me and said the "U" most likely is the symbol for sonic testing which would make perfect since. Not to totally discount the NASCAR theory but they probably would have only taken the best blocks requiring sonic testing to determine that. He didn't say the last part.....that was me assuming.

 

[rag231]

I have seen many motors where the block, rods and Valve train were ruined but the crank was still good. Is there a more windowed block in history? I don't know. But I have one that was repaired by Ray's Crack repair in the great state of KY and it has held everything that I have thrown at it. Now that breakage looks similar to a block that had about 4 inches removed and was running a custom oil pan.

 

[Mike T]

Check this out. "U" is for uni-boring. Notice the block number

 

[dank GN]

Dank From the photos it looked like you had cross bolted center but it was the motor mount bolt. Yours appears to be the same as my block and not the latest version. Still very cool though and thanks for sharing

All my mains are cross bolted.

 

[dank GN]

Nvm I thought they where all cross bolted my bad

 

[boostjunkie]

Check this out. "U" is for uni-boring. Notice the block number








View attachment 315813

Now that's cool !

 

[dank GN]

I have seen many motors where the block, rods and Valve train were ruined but the crank was still good. Is there a more windowed block in history? I don't know. But I have one that was repaired by Ray's Crack repair in the great state of KY and it has held everything that I have thrown at it. Now that breakage looks similar to a block that had about 4 inches removed and was running a custom oil pan.

My buddy ended up buying this block that has a chunk taken out of it . Supposedly it was for windage purpose.

 

[Mike T]

View attachment 315805 And how many are left.....bye

Now this is just a WAG but it looks like the motor mount stressed that one. Do you know the history?

 

[TURBOELKY]

Now this is just a WAG but it looks like the motor mount stressed that one. Do you know the history?

Spun a rod as far as I know. It belongs to a buddy, came in a parts lot. Was a stage 2 headed engine. Not sure why it failed, I’m assuming spun bearing and kept going? Pretty strong really, obviously the rod didn’t spin around the whole inside and destroy the rest of it.

 

[TurboCrazy]

Dank, your center mains are splayed main caps. Not cross bolted. If they were cross bolted, they would have bolts that screwed in from the outside of the block like the front & rear mains. Just saying.

 

[dank GN]

Dank, your center mains are splayed main caps. Not cross bolted. If they were cross bolted, they would have bolts that screwed in from the outside of the block like the front & rear mains. Just saying.

Yea that’s why I said my bad . You are correct just mains 1& 4 are cross bolted then the center caps are splayed . Ether way if u can build a stage block right you have an advantage over a girdled production block .IMO. I have a question my bore is 4.061 and I hear that the on center blocks have thicker walls . How much thicker are the walls to a off center stage block?

 

[rag231]

Good question,someone would have to supply a sonic bore test sheet for an offcenter. I dont know how many virgin off centers there are to find out.

 

[Mike T]

View attachment 315840

Spun a rod as far as I know. It belongs to a buddy, came in a parts lot. Was a stage 2 headed engine. Not sure why it failed, I’m assuming spun bearing and kept going? Pretty strong really, obviously the rod didn’t spin around the whole inside and destroy the rest of it.

That would explain it. Crank looked good in the pic so my curiosity was up.

 

[forcefed3.8's]

Yea that’s why I said my bad . You are correct just mains 1& 4 are cross bolted then the center caps are splayed . Ether way if u can build a stage block right you have an advantage over a girdled production block .IMO. I have a question my bore is 4.061 and I hear that the on center blocks have thicker walls . How much thicker are the walls to a off center stage block?

The off center stuff didnt have the quality control the on center stuff did. I have 3 sonic test sheets somewhere. A 4.1 off center stage 2, was right at .180 to .200 with a 4.02 bore, a 4.1 stage 2 off center with a 3.8 bore, had a lot of meat, and a 3.8 stage 1 that was .180 to .200 on the low end, some areas were more. The on center blocks are beefier, even the early ones with no cross bolts, and weight more. The stage blocks are also made of a better material than a production block. A 2 bolt main stage 1 with billet caps is stronger than a girdled 109.