Just out of curiousity, does anyone make a built "race" block for the duramax? And, is the block ever the weak link?

As far as I have seen, only if a rod comes into contact with it. They you get yourself a set of french doors! Someone else with more technical knowledge and exprience should chime in here too.

Bentley

Yes there is some out there. Looking at a billet steel one now..aluminum is available....very very pricey, but you get to fix a few things on lower end to make it pretty kool...well see.

Jeremy

Who on God's green earth would pay for such a thing?

someone who's already paid for the a5000 turbo, headstuds, built heads, transmission, billet input and output shafts, and anything else along the line, who has resultingly blown a block...

I dont think the block is a problem...Yet.

Those that have lost a block had other failures lead up to it. Lots of steps to take before going to different block IMO, fill it, girdle, etc.

someone who's already paid for the a5000 turbo, headstuds, built heads, transmission, billet input and output shafts, and anything else along the line, who has resultingly blown a block...

I've got all that stuff with the exception of the heads and billet shafts, but there's no way to justify a billet block IMHO. What are they gonna be? $10k?

is it really necessary tho?? I mean how nuts are people going? :confused:

you'd be basically building up a whole new custom engine from the ground up...IMO it wouldnt even really be considered a duramax anymore..."just a 6.x liter V8 turbo diesel that shares some design aspects with a duramax" :confuzeld:

Why stop at 6.X liters if you're going that far? Why not 10L?

It might be powerful, sure, but it's a non-OEM piece, so you can't really compete with it, so it seems kinda pointless to me.

I've got all that stuff with the exception of the heads and billet shafts, but there's no way to justify a billet block IMHO. What are they gonna be? $10k?

Nope they are around the $15,000.00 mark and are available!

is it really necessary tho?? I mean how nuts are people going? :confused:

you'd be basically building up a whole new custom engine from the ground up...IMO it wouldnt even really be considered a duramax anymore..."just a 6.x liter V8 turbo diesel that shares some design aspects with a duramax" :confuzeld:

It might not be nessesary but those who are looking for the "Indistructable" block and for a weight reduction in "Race Only" truck applications would be the ones going this route.

is it really necessary tho?? I mean how nuts are people going? :confused:

you'd be basically building up a whole new custom engine from the ground up...IMO it wouldnt even really be considered a duramax anymore..."just a 6.x liter V8 turbo diesel that shares some design aspects with a duramax"
:confuzeld:


How would it not be a duramax?? Is the block not going to be the same design? Are the heads going on it not going to be duramax head? Are the aftermarket pistons rods and crank not of the duramax design?

IMO it is not the physical metal properties that make the engine it is the design, it is what the engineers created. Make a working engine out of cheese with the same design as a duramax and it is still a duramax it is just made of cheese. The metals used in the original engine are a balance of strength and cost. I am sure if the cost would be the same the engineers would have put forged pistons and crank as well as billet rods and an aluminum block but these would have trippled the cost of the engine.

It might not be nessesary but those who are looking for the "Indistructable" block and for a weight reduction in "Race Only" truck applications would be the ones going this route.

Not being a smart A** but would one of these blocks really prevent a rod from going through it. I don't know much about them, so just wondering. I can understand the weight reduction thing though. BTW who is making them?

DMAXBOB

Not being a smart A** but would one of these blocks really prevent a rod from going through it. I don't know much about them, so just wondering. I can understand the weight reduction thing though. BTW who is making them?

DMAXBOB

If you are at this level chances are you would be running billet rods so having a rod fail is unlikely.

Redline Diesel Performance has a line on the billet blocks.

Thanks. I was just wondering. Don't know much about em. Hopefully I will need one some day.

DMAXBOB

How would it not be a duramax??

Easy. It didn't come out of the factory in Moraine, OH and was not made by Dmax Ltd.

Therefore it's a custom piece like a Dart on Sonny Leonard or whatever. Those aren't "Chevy" blocks, even though they are designed after one.

$15k is silly money. If I was going off the deep end that far, I think I'd start with a bigger Cummins or Cat block and just have a bunch of cores...treat 'em as throwaway.

You couldn't pull with it in DHRA.
It looks like you could drag race it with DHRA, Index racing ("any" CI engine)

Ah, whatever, hey, you can buy $10k gas cooking grilles too.

Ah, whatever, hey, you can buy $10k gas cooking grilles too.[/quote]

:funnypost

Well if you want to get that picky then eveybody running a aftermarket turbo, conn. rods,cam, ported heads (with new valves) and dual cp3's no longer has a duramax. You have a duramax block, crank, and LBZ piston or whatever.

No. Come on now!

Look, don't we all know what a "big block Chevy" is, regardless of what heads or intake manifold or carbs is?

Little hint: A BIG BLOCK CHEVY!

If the block came from the OEM, then that's its lineage.

Anything else is just "aftermarket" and not OEM.

Think simple, people ):h

Think simple, people ):h

Glad to see that is not a challenge for ya big guy!:stirthepo





(Just messin with ya Forrest!:D )

$15k is cheap for the amount of work that went into making it, compared to a billet set of rods for $3k.

I could make 5 sets of rods way faster than is would take to make 1 block.