Sportsman B50 Two Bolt Block

[nothwoods]

Anyone running one of these? I'd like to hear what kind of power people have made with them. I have one bored and stroked to 333 ci, ( 3.25 x 4.040), running 15 psi. with a T-trim, just put the rotating assembly back together after burning up a piston. Think I burned it from running stale fuel, sits a lot, possibly clogged an injector, #8. These blocks were rated at 425 flywheel hp, and mine makes around 675. It went about 12,000 miles over ten years, was beat without mercy for almost all of those miles. I regularly spun it up to 7000 rpm. It has an Eagle 4340 crank with H-beam rods, main and rocker girdles, 1/2" head studs, and ARP throughout, and is well balanced. I always figured I was pushing my luck, but in the end it wasn't the block that failed. Even though it seemed to like high revs peak power was around 5900, and now im going to limit it to 6000. Anyone have experience with this block?​

 

[RangerJoe]

Every once in a while you will see these pop up for sale, but rarely. By brother-n-law made 602 rwhp in one with a 331, afr 205's and a t-trim. However, that car hasn't moved in 7 years, so who knows how it will hold up. I've seen woody from ford strokers brag on the block, but honestly, I am surprised yours has held up for as long as it has seeing that you were revving it to 7000 rpms.

Joe

 

[nothwoods]

Yeah I'm surprised too! The block looks great, but I did fnd some valve train issues and the cam bearings were pretty well pounded out, so in a way I'm glad I took it apart before I had bigger problems. I can see where there's a lot more meat in the caps and crank webs than a stock block, but I've heard some horror stories too. Mine made 540/543 ftlbs at the wheels. I rebuilt the motor back as it was, only major engine changes will be planeing the heads will bump compression from 7.9 up to 8 or 8.1, and I'm going from 1 5/8 unequal shorties to 1 3/4 full lengths. Like I said I'm going to cut back on the rev limit, and I might go more conservative on the timing and run less boost. Not racing it, and I'd like it to stay together and be somewhat reliable. Anyone else making crazy power with a sportsman block?

 

[2000xp8]

I had one briefly back in the day, ford racing 347, i paid $2200 for the shortblock new from ford, IMO, that setup was a steal. Sold it to fund my terminator swap (got every dime back out of it, because it was then discontinued)

I know others guys with them, never saw one split like stock 302 blocks do, but i can say for sure, rpm kills the B block. Anyone i know that took them beyond 6500 landed up with internal issues, although not catastrophic destruction like we are used to seeing.

 

[nothwoods]

That's good to hear, my hope is that since it survived regular trips up to 7000 it should be happy staying at 6000. Ideally I'd love to build one from a Dart block but it's not in the cards.