[TimG]

I don't know if their being realistic, but the criteria says that all dates should precede the build date of the car. They don't make any mention of CE blocks in judging manuals and they really don't treat a CE block any differently than a bare pad on a block. They judge five critical items pertaining to the engines; the casting number (350 points), the casting date (175 points), the broach on the stamp pad (38 points), the VIN derivative (25 points), and the engine assembly stamp (25 points). Forty five points equals one percentage point, so if your casting number is not correct for your car, you're at a Second Flight right out of the gate. It's important to know that if you put a 1969 L88 motor in a 1967 L88, your going to receive severe deductions whether it's a CE block or a block with nothing on the pad. You can argue to a judge all day long about how the original owner of the car told you that the engine was lost under warranty, you can even have paperwork to document this. The bottom line is that casting number, casting date, broach, VIN stamp, and assembly stamp are the only thing that determines the point deduction, not the CE designation, if any, on a block. It's a very easy judging process that allows for an owner of a car without an original engine to find a nearly correct engine and have a car that can Top Flight.

I owned a car with the original engine and the pad was lightly radial decked during a rebuild before I owned the car. This was a 25 point deduction in judging since all the other elements were correct. NCRS viewed this about the same as if my radio didn't work. It's important to know that if any of the five critical items are out of line at Bloomington Gold judging, the car is only eligible to receive a Silver Certificate no matter how well the car judges. They call it "Boxing" the car because these items are in a box on the judging sheets.

You're better off with a blank pad than a CE block, in my opinion.