[Ron Sutton]

Originally Posted by 214Chevelle

Ron, the only reason I said I'd stick with the RHS is because with the LS Next aluminum not being released yet, I'd figure many guys would be familiar with building it or how to build it or being familiar with it. I'd love to talk to you about possible building me an engine. From your posts, you seem very knowledgeable and experienced. Can you pm me a contact cell # so I can discuss my engine goals with you. I strictly want a street car....no racing for me.

Yup, yup! I'll pm you.

Guys ... just to be sure I didn't mis-state anything ... I think the RHS block is a good piece. For that matter, several of the factory GM LS blocks are good too, depending on how much power you're building, how hard it's being used and how much running it sees.

I think choosing engine blocks is a little like shopping for a welder. Sure a $1500 mig welder can weld 1/4" steel plate, but with a duty cycle of 30%, you would not want to put it on a production line trying to weld 1/4" plate all day. That $1500 welder can weld 1/4" plate often ... just not all the time. It's going to need a rest. If we're going to weld 1/4" plate all the time, we need a production line welder ($6,000) with a much higher duty cycle.

Blocks are similar. if you're going to drive them hard occassionally, you can get away with a lighter duty block. If you're gonna drive her hard all the time, you need a strong block foundation.

Scenario #1:
If we're Autocrossing a car 10-15 laps a weekend, 8-12 weekends a year & running 10 lap runs at a time, three times a day over five road course track days a year ... running an engine 10-20% over it's rated power capacity ... the block should last many years.

Scenario #2:
But if it were seeing serious road course action, 100 laps a day, 3-day events, 30 events a season, the life of that block ... would be shortened considerably.

For most guys scenario #1 is realistic & acceptable, so they don't need as strong a block. For more hardcore guys that want to run their car hard & often, if they don't have a strong block as a foundation, they'll have issues with the block and everything else too.

That's my experience anyway.