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Lee, Thanks for your comments.
The foundry that you are using, Northfield Manufacturing in Westland, MI. (
www.northfieldfoundry.com) is the foundry that cast the 2003 Ford Model T centennial cylinder blocks, and one that I contacted and felt that they were capable. They have also cast Maxwell cylinders for an acquaintance of mine and Charlie Yapp from "Secrets of Speed" has used them.
3-D mold printing machines are amazing. There is no need for draft, and even reverse draft is allowable. The cores and mold including cope, drag, sprues, runners, and vents are all printed as a single entity and are ready for pouring. There are no parting lines.
Before I decided to use Lodi Iron Works, I visited a foundry at the repurposed McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento that was set up for the "Casting Emission Reduction Program". This foundry had an automated casting line from Ford Motor Company for an obsolete 4 cylinder engine. The foundry was trying different core binders and measuring the resulting emissions for each different core binder. They had a mold printing machine and they quoted a price of $2500 to mold a Model A Ford cylinder block. Lodi's quote was $800 for the same cylinder block using patterns and core boxes..
If the choice were to procure a printed mold cylinder block and add the cost of main caps, machining of the cylinder block, forging and machining connecting rods, and the cost of a 5 main crankshaft, the cost becomes prohibitive for the Model A enthusiast.
Our introductory price of $3500 includes a fully machined cylinder block, crankshaft, and connecting rods that are ready for assembly, and close to the cost of a quality rebuild.