Mercury (Ford) 289 marine, worth buying?

[jacksoni]

There is a very long thread about the nickel content question here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20092&hilit=high+nickle+block

As Jack says, hard rumor to stamp out.

Just out of curiosity, beside making it be something other than "cast Iron" what would an actual HIGH nickel formula do to the machining/strength characteristics? Guess going to need one of the metallurgists to answer as it seems no one has actually ever seen one... LOL.

[PackardV8]

Just out of curiosity, beside making it be something other than "cast Iron" what would an actual HIGH nickel formula do to the machining/strength characteristics? Guess going to need one of the metallurgists to answer as it seems no one has actually ever seen one... LOL.

Back in another lifetime, I worked in a foundry producing Ni-hard, nickel/chromium alloy iron wear parts for rock crushers. The castings had to be accurate, as it was a bitch to machine. The modern compacted graphite iron alloys are more expensive to machine than gray iron.

[Caprimaniac]

All interesting stuff, gents.

The pos seller- after I gave hin the bid- sent a message that it was picked up by someone else. So- left here, still looking...

Piling together what I need for the new Ford racing ‘boss’ block. Nee headbstuds, svo head gaskets, svo cam bearings.... the costs will be closer to 3500$. I can live with that.
But the thing I hate the most is that all good parts on the shelf for a stock block has to gi in the thrash. 2 sets of head gaskets, arp studs....
Nest time I do a engine, it will be something more easy to get. This is stupid....

And even more irritating.... the one shop that can fix my stock block lifter hole are in Sweden. And because of Corona, the borders are closed... OK. Wait another week and see- maybe I can travel over there. Maybe another block shows up...

As my pal said...»You won’t race that carbthis summer»....