We love when people post up cool factory parts that we were either unaware of or that we knew a little bit about but nothing more. In the case of this cool Mopar A8 aluminum block we had an idea that they were used in the world of sprint car racing but we did not know that they were still available new (for up to and OVER $8,000) from places like Jegs. The engines can mostly be found in dirt late models and 410i sprint cars but we think that building one of these babies with a set of W9 heads and other cool Chrysler bits on it would be killer for the street. Yes, they require all kinds of specialized stuff to make work but the reality is that if you were going this route you are already planning on spending some dough, right?
The seller of this particular block is asking $3,800 and if it is in good shape we think that’s a deal as compared to the list price in the catalogs that we found. He claims that the original intent of this engine was for endurance racing like at a the 24 Hours of LeMans and that it somehow managed to filter into the sprint car and dirt stock car racing worlds. Dry sump engines that require special timing gears and other stuff, you can fill them up with proved small block Mopar parts including cylinder heads.
Rolling into your local cruise night with a Duster that had one of these and a stick behind it would be awesome, especially if you left the parking lot grabbing gears at 8,000 RPM. We get chills just thinking about it!
Being that I am not a dedicated Chrysler guy, I want some of you guys that bleed little hemi shaped cells to jump in on this thing and tell me if the block is worth it and if you’d ever want to build an engine off of one. Obviously there are complications with the oiling system and stuff but it sure seems like a neat piece to me! (Hey, plus it is currently listed for half off retail prices…it is like a Black Friday deal for gear heads!)
Scroll down to see some photos and then hit the link at the bottom for the full link –
