A few of you might recall when Lansing, Michigan engine builder Muscle Motors was featured in a story by Hot Rod Magazine unveiling an incredible new engine block that could be machined as either a big block wedge or Gen2 Hemi. Titled “The Block”, the offering came out of necessity given the drought of suitable stock and replacement engine blocks. Racers competing in Super Stock, Super Comp, and other classes running big-block Mopars were quickly gobbled up anything available, leaving sportsman racers, owners of street machines and performance enthusiasts out in the cold.

Not since Mopar Performance’s line of wedge and Hemi “Mega Blocks” during in the mid-1990s, had something truly innovative hit the market, and it looked like Muscle Motors had truly, finally done it. Cast and machined entirely in the USA, the new engine block featured stronger main webbing, each filled in for added strength; and priority oiling that supplied oil to the main and rod bearings prior to the lifters, ensuring lifter failure won’t happen as a result of total loss of main bearing oil pressure. Equally, the block came at 4.495″ bore, with a .250″ wall thickness at 4.500″ bore.

The innovations continued; The Block was available with 9.980″, 10.200″ and 10.720″ ​deck heights, meaning you could literally order this as a 400, 440 or 426 Hemi. The cam bore was machined either for a 55mm roller or 60mm slider. Four of the five steel billet main caps were cross bolted, and the entire block was fitted with with ARP fasteners. Additionally, all plugs and seal retainer came included with each purchase.​​ Oh yeah, and it was already approved by the NHRA ​for ​Stock and S/SC classes. Even the block was machined for both wedge or Hemi motor mounts, making swapping out K-members obsolete.

Everything sounded great, right? Then Muscle Motors appeared to close its doors and The Block vanished…or so people thought. Thankfully, The Block was never Muscle Motors’ to begin with. The Block was the brainchild of Bulldog Performance, and still belongs to them! It took quite a bit of effort to begin putting out the fires left by the shop’s closure, but today, Bulldog is producing blocks and satisfying its patient customers – we know, we’ve personally witnessed the pouring of two iron blocks during a visit prior to the PRI Show in December 2018, a story we’ll publish here shortly (see the image below).

Priced typically at $3,975, each block is made to your specifications, so prices and delivery dates are subject to change per customer. So again, the ultimate iron wedge/Hemi engine block is alive and well, and available for order at Bulldog Performance (give them a call at 317-869-8689) and all of us at Mopar Connection are excited to help get the word out! Look for Bulldog’s ads here as well as future announcements, feature articles and more – and maybe you can finally get that Hemi you’ve always wanted!