High nickel content block?

[StockMan]

How can I tell if a 383 block has high nickel content, or not.  Was this done for only certain producion years?

[resq302]

I thought all old mopar blocks were high nickel content in them.

[Challenger340]

High- "er" Nickel content in the earlier Blocks, but none are stellar in the Nickel dept.

[resq302]

Ive heard that Mopar engines had a higher nickel content than other manufacturers blocks.  Maybe that is just a rumor.

[StockMan]

Thanks for your reply.

[Ghoste]

Ive heard that Mopar engines had a higher nickel content than other manufacturers blocks.  Maybe that is just a rumor.

I think there's some truth to that but one of the Mopar mags (Mopar Action??), sampled a big cross section of blocks a few years back to test for nickel content and found the results to be all over the map.  IIRC, they dispelled more than a couple of myths and the only consistency was a gradual decline after 73 or 74.

[StockMan]

I found out that on some blocks, big blocks for sure, a German symbol (the + symbol with the widened ends, not swaskita) was stamped on them that indicated either higher nickel cast or a 10 over grind on the crank journals.  I was told this by a long time mopar veteran although I never did see one myself personally.  He said that all motors hes owned that had this symbol had much better performance than others without the symbol. 

Has anyone heard this, or has seen one of these?  I didn't ask where this symbol was stamped.

[max]

you mean this symbol?

if so then it means the crank is factory turned .010 under.

i have never actually heard of a stamping indicating a higher nickel block but that dosen't mean there wasn't one.

[Blown70]

you mean this symbol?

Would that be called a Maltese cross?

[John_Kunkel]

Back in the seventies I wandered into the back door of my local speed shop (M&M Speed Engineering) and nearly stumbled over a 426 Hemi block on the floor, I commented on how dangerous it was to have it sitting in the aisle and one of the guys in the machine shop said "Go ahead, push it out of the way". The grin on his face told a story.

Well, I've hefted quite a few wedge and Hemi bare blocks, I can't lift them off the floor but I can lift one end or just skid them on a smooth concrete floor but this one wouldn't budge. I couldn't push it with my foot and I tried lifting one end, no way.

Turns out this was one of a handful that the factory made for Top Fuel use, it was a high-nickel alloy that had been the property of Don Garlits and was destined to be installed in Chuck Poole's Chuckwagon A-100 wheelstander.

Yes, there were high-nickel blocks made but not for the masses.

[StockMan]

Interesting story, the high nickel would mean more weight for sure.  I've never seen one of these symbols before, so interesting to actually see that pic.  I friend has a 383 stamped this way and the power it produces is very impressive.  The motor has 90 thousand miles and still chugs out tonnes of power, significantly more than all other 383s I've seen.  Odd why they would have chosen that symbol??

[dstryr]

I have heard/read that nickel content is only a very small percent of the alloy, maybe 1-3% if I remember correctly, but I do not have a document to refer to.  Does that sound right? 

[max]

you mean this symbol?

Would that be called a Maltese cross?

yes, that is what it is called and it only means the mains on the crank have been turned from the factory.

it shouldn't be confused with a way of telling that a block has a higher then average nickel content.

when i bought my new MP 4.19 bore Hemi block a few years ago i finally got around to buying the pistons i had planned on using and took everything to the machine shop.

i told the owner of the shop that i wanted to use cast iron rings since it was a street only engine, he really flamed me over the use of cast rings but finally decided i wasn't going to change my mind.

about a week later i went over to pick the block and everything else up and then the owner told me that it was a good thing i did go with cast iron rings because molly rings would have had a hard time seating in that block since it was so hard.

he claimed to have gone through 4 sets of stones on each cylinder to get the needed bore, he went on to tell me that they usally got 6-8 engines per set of stones and that Hemi block was the hardest block they had ever bored.

i want to say when that bare Hemi block was at the shipping dock for me to pick it up that it weighed alittle over 300 lbs which also included a small wooden base crate that it was strapped to, so it was/is a heavy block.



John, didn't those top fuel Hemi blocks have an "X" casted in the sides of them?

i want to say i read that years ago in one of the mopar mags when they were identifiying 426 Hemi blocks but i can't really remember for sure. 

[ITSA426]

I ran into a 413 HP block and was told the front of the block had the letters AAQA cast into it to identify it as a high nickel block.  Don't know if it's true or not, just passing it along.  I have a A383 HP block but I never have looked to see if there is anything unusual cast into the front of it.  It also had a distributor hold down similar to a hemi but without the machined top cut.  I'm still trying to figure what a 65 383 HP would have been used in.  Anybody know.