GM Aluminum Block Small Block Chevy Casting 0 359198
 

Happy New Year to All,


This site is a wealth of knowledge and I am hoping someone can help me find some more info on this engine. I bought this from a guy who got it in a package deal from a friend years ago. From what I understand, the friend was into vintage race cars, exotics, Ferraris, etc. The friend was refining his collection and offered the guy I got this engine from a deal he couldn't refuse on a bunch of parts he had in storage. This engine was part of that deal. The guy I got it from was under the impression that the engine was fresh and ready to run. When looking the engine over, I noticed it did not have any head gaskets installed. Once we pulled the pan, it was evident that he was mistaken about the engine being fresh. It has spun 2 rod bearings and the rods and pistons from those cylinders are MIA. The damage appears to be isolated to those journals on the crank. This did not concern me much since I was mainly interested in the block. Where it gets interesting is the crankshaft itself. It is not your standard SBC crank, it is a 180 degree, AKA flat crank, as found in Ferraris, etc. This of course also requires a special camshaft, etc. I had never seen a flat plane crank in a SBC and googling the subject only pulls up one such example that was custom built in the 50's.

I am hoping someone has had experience with this casting number or knows of a flat plane crank that was run in some sort of race car of this time period such as Chaparral, etc. Speaking of time period, I am not even sure of the era the block,heads, etc came out of. The heads are very early Brodix castings and have what look to be self made stud girdles. The oil pan is a dry sump setup and the front drive components look to be Summers Bros. I am hoping someone has some knowledge of this engine since it is so unique. That said, if it is a period race piece, things were pretty hush hush most of the time.

I was only able to find one other block online with this casting number and it was posted by Jim at Heartbeat City and was built as a 302 engine. I remember Charley put a GM aluminum block in a 67 Z/28 but I was not able to find the thread.

Please post any and all comments.


Thanks,


Jason

More pictures. The last 2 are just for fun.

Also, searching the H518 stamping on the Brodix website shows:

Your part was cast on: 6/15/81
The serial number is: H518
Your part is: -9 Standard


Thanks,

Jason

Now that is crazy wild. Love to hear more about this gem and it's history.

Paul

Very Cool Jason, i'll be watching for updates. I have a 69 Z28 that is motorless and I keep thinking it would be really cool with a vintage experimental engine or vintage aluminum gm block under the hood. The oddball stuff and super rare stuff always interests me. I also remember reading that thread years ago about the Experimental engine Charley had in a first gen camaro. I would like to revisit that story again too.


Tommy

I thought GM made an aluminum 302 to go in the Vega when it first came out. I forget which book I saw that in but I'll start to look around.

Wow, extremely cool find.

Very cool, Jason. I don't know how you keep finding this stuff but it's neat that you do.

Thanks guys,


Jon,

I try to stay on the hunt.

Jason

Amazing.

Looks like pretty hefty sleeves.

One would think Brodix heads from 1981 would have the accessory bolt holes.

Can't help much but a few random things. I'd be curious to know the bore size. The intake valve looks small. The heads look "tall", like an 18 degree head. Dipstick on driver side like an early block. No gussets or reinforcement like most aftermarket blocks. No winters foundry marking, they seemed to have done most of the early Chevy aluminum parts. I'm sure it has an interesting history, thanks for posting and good luck.