I just got caught up on this thread. The idea is great but there's a reason guys with pretty deep pockets have tried and realized the $'s don't make sense. I'm not understanding the economics. I'm an old Toolmaker Machinist and enjoy building machining assembling engines as much as any & have heard the $ #'s we're talking. After doing the research several years ago & after understanding of how hard it is to find a good block as said in this thread I went to Jerry Livingston at United Eengines,
http://www.unitedengine.biz/united_004.htm , as you can see he offers a '49 to '53 for under $2300 assembled with all internals and earlier config's for under $2700 less bolt ons. He's one of the good ones and reasonable but their are others. Back to economics, while I enjoy the build I could buy another from Jerry and disassemble it and reassemble it ( not that anyone would, lol ) & realistically be at least a couple $Grand ahead of paying $2400 for a bear block that still needs finish matching pushing it to $3400 before any internals are bought or assembled?
Like I said, Tod I love the idea & maybe a few guys looking for a more versatile block for performance would be in I think I until guys / co.'s and available flatty blocks are gone your pricing at this time would need to be approx $1000 to compete with these guys putting out stock flatty assembled with internals for $2300 to $2700. JMO?