Decking a block to shorten stroke and lessen the rotating inertia

I have a sort of hypothetical/theoretical question...Has anyone decked a standard BBF block (could be a D0VE, D1VE or D9TE block) down from the stock height of 10.32 to closer to what the BBC might have for example at 9.8?  If not, what is the limit, if someone has tried, to how far one could deck a BBF block and have it still be robust enough for racing?

4speed390 wrote:I have a sort of hypothetical/theoretical question...Has anyone decked a standard BBF block (could be a D0VE, D1VE or D9TE block) down from the stock height of 10.32 to closer to what the BBC might have for example at 9.8?  If not, what is the limit, if someone has tried, to how far one could deck a BBF block and have it still be robust enough for racing?

A block may accept a .140" cut before you begin milling into the upper bell-housing bolt holes.
It definitely does not have a thick enough deck to accept a .500" cut.

4speed390 wrote:...Has anyone decked a standard BBF block (could be a D0VE, D1VE or D9TE block) down from the stock height of 10.32 to closer to what the BBC might have for example at 9.8?

The passenger car block's deck is not that thick and you'd be in the water jacket.

Personally, I think the Chevy 9.8 deck is a disadvantage in most cases. For something of the Pro Stock level of build, I can understand it (even the Ford A500 short deck block was meant for Pro Stock), but I think the taller deck Ford does just fine as is.

Pro Stock guys did this back in the old days before they had access to race blocks. They shortened the deck height as much as possible while also raising the heads and rotating the valve angle. They wanted a short deck height and bigger bores so they could spin the engine harder. But it took a ton of work and boat load of money to do all of that work. Not really practical to do these days.