It appears that I have an opportunity to buy an 00120 block with a number appropriate to by SS.  Exciting? Yes! Well, to help make it happen I am selling off some of the more interesting bits in my collection of spares. Among them is this block, a blank 101 1300 in fantastic condition.
Before I get into the details of this particular block I should address the subject of blank blocks in general. I have seen these, or cars with them under the hood for sale occasionally and the story often attached to them is that Alfa’s procedure for catastrophic failure (thrown rod, broken main support web etc) called for the replacement of the parts with new factory parts. If the block was damaged, you got a new one. I don’t know if the replacements were short blocks, or blocks only to which any required parts were added to replace any unable to fulfill their role, but in any case, what came out the other side was an engine without an identity. Like that seen here. Why no number? Something to do with accounting perhaps. Maybe they were supposed to stamp the new block with the old blocks numbers, but the dealers never received the stamp set. Anyone know more?
Starting from the part you see at the end of the build, the outside. You can see this is a pretty nice block. In better shape than any of the blocks I’ve built up before. I would paint the dipstick tube if I were building this.
