Windsor block vs Romeo questions

[wee04svt]

I recently popped the stock motor in my cobra and was initially going to send my motor to MMR and build up the Romeo block that's in my car and just re-use the block crank and put in new rods and pistons. Afterwards I was told by a machine shop that does mostly all mod motor builds that the Romeo block is a huge weak point and to use a Windsor block. Reason being is the Romeo has
Crank walk issues at the 600hp Mark do to the main cap design where the Windsor has dowl pins on the mains in turn supporting a lot more power. Insight and opinions would be great. The Windsor build is bit more money. My motor will be topped with a 2.9 crusher. The question is it worth breaking the bank.

 

[racebronco2]

First there are plenty of 600+hp terminators running around with no issues of the crank walking.

When i had to go thru my motor i bought a teksid block. The aluminum block will save you about 70lbs off the front of the car. It will also take less time to get the car cooled down because aluminum dissipates heat much better than a cast block which absorbs heat. I now have several in my garage. 250.00 for the block. I have several blocks and MMR is about 100miles away.

 

[SlowSVT]

Compared to a lot of push rod V8's the amount of power the factory mod blocks can hold is very impressive. Bottom end failures are almost unheard of and when you consider anyone even of modest resources can and do build 800+ hp 4.6's. A cross bolt main block is a far cry from a traditional 2 or 4 bolt main cap especially with regard to the caps moving around on the block. Neither the Romeo or the Windsor block side bolting method are as good as the aluminum 4.6 and the iron Boss 5.0 block solid mated side contact caps. If you are making enough power where the integrity of the Romeo block is an issue you will have a lot more to worry about than just the block. An SVT engineer stated the Romeo block is "good" to about 1200 hp. My question would be "for how many seconds?"

If you’re still not comfortable with what you have I would consider the iron Boss 5.0 block which is more or less a big bore aluminum 4.6 block.

Windsor dowel pins

Romeo jack screws

Iron Boss 5.0