Block Limitations

+3

Also, I had 525 to the wheels with my vortech for about a year. Never really beat on the car too much though because I feared for inevitable. When I bought my Dart setup, I stripped the stock block down and gave it away to a coworker of mine that restores classic mustangs. He did an ultrasound test on the block and found all kinds of stress fractures. It was basically a paperweight after that. Time and RPM certainly kills those stock blocks. Not if, but when.
 
The whole reason why my 89' 5.0 has a (331 cid) Scat cast steel crank and "I" beam rods is that I did not see the point in putting a 750 hp plus rated rotating assembly in a 500 hp (approx) rated stock block. It is also a way of keeping the car streetable. I will save the high HP and high $ rotating assembly for the high HP rated block. Once I go down that road, I am afraid the car will be more of a race only vehicle and I will lose the ability to realistically drive it on a daily basis.

the steel crank is stiffer than cast and will actually help a stock block stay together because cap chatter is a big contributor to cracking. the steel crank wont prevent the block from cracking. but for a given application it will noticeably cut down on the little caps dancing.