Re: 8BA tooling.
The only thing that I can see there that is a bit off the wall is the final finishing of the cam bearing bores. Align boring/honing mains is not that big a deal and the cam bores are similar. Getting it all centered up is up to the machinist. The flathead engines take someone who is pretty sharp to insure everything is where it's supposed to be since they are geared cam drive. If the the tappet bores are relatively close in size then honing them shouldn't be a problem. Most of the machine shops here in SA are geared toward the standard OHV engines. There is likely only one shop here that is geared more toward flathead machine work but most have machines that can handle about any type of block. If a person wants hardened seats in the valve pockets then that would be a choice that would be optional but wouldn't break the bank. I still have a set of brand new standard size Mercury pistons that I'd like to use up without sleeving a whole block to do it. Like Ron says, it's just a matter of money. One guy might want something different than another guy so a person has to have a happy medium.
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