It has become rather convenient that the 351W motor, when fully bored and stroked, will easily calculate 427 ci of displacement. It’s also smaller, lighter and less expensive than its big-block 427 cousin. To wit, a small-block engine of this immense size can provide all of the performance of the big block, if not more, without the associated headaches of weight and heavier reciprocating and rotating internals. The benefits of the smaller cylinder block are obvious compared to the enormous heft of a big block, and the lighter weight means you don’t have to compromise your chassis. So when a super-strong cylinder block comes along, people take notice, because engine-building companies have used Ford’s performance blocks up to this point. Now available from World, the Man O’ War “monster block” (our term, not his) is a definite improvement over the stock original-equipment blocks.

The Man O’ War is offered in four deck heights: 8.200 inches, 8.700 inches, 9.200 inches and 9.500 inches. The 8.200- and 8.700-inch deck blocks are the 302-style, while the two taller decks (9.200- and 9.500-inch) are 351-style blocks. The minimum deck thickness on these beefy blocks is 0.600 inch.

An added bonus with the “C” version of the 302-style block is that it’s available with mounting positions for the oil pump and distributor in the same location as the 351 blocks. With the standard Ford 302 blocks, interference with the oil pump keeps maximum displacement to about 347 ci. The MOW “C” blocks will allow a maximum of a 375ci 302.

These new blocks come with unfinished 3.990-inch or 4.115-inch bores, which must be finished to 4.000 inches and 4.125 inches, respectively. With a 4.250-inch stroke, the largest the block will handle, in a tall-deck block, look for a whopping 460ci small block—Hello, Ford lovers! Actually, the cylinders will safely bore out to 4.200 inches. That, along with the 4.250-inch stroke, will permit a radical small-block displacement of 470 ci. The bottom of each cylinder comes already notched for a high-swinging reciprocating assembly, so Bill Mitchell understands your intentions going in, which is why these blocks exist in the first place. There’s much more to these blocks than simply their intended size, and a lot of inherent problems were addressed going in.  Lubrication was addressed; the MOW has priority-main oiling, half-inch oil passages and cast-in bosses for lifter cross-feeding. The block is also designed for production-type roller cams, so you can absolutely bolt on all typical Ford EFI equipment.

Compared to a bare 302 stock block, which weighs slightly more than 130 pounds, at 189 pounds for the short deck version and 227 pounds for tall deck version, the Man O’ War block will add weight to an existing Ford engine combination. There’s simply no way around that fact other than to understand that iron is used in all the right places and for all the proper reasons. The iron Man O’ War blocks offer a stronger, more rigid foundation, which eliminates dreaded lifter-valley cracking or web failure that leads to engine failure.

In addition to the blocks, Mitchell’s company offers several Ford-style cylinder heads as well as complete engines, all of which use the Man O’ War block as their foundation. It has been BMP’s success with the small and big-block Chevys, including Merlin big blocks, that have made them such a powerful company. BMP currently offers 632-inch Merlin engines and 454-inch Motown small-block Chevy engines, and that’s much the same for Smeding Performance, who also builds a number of Chevys. But one of Smeding’s newest packages is their 427 Cobra Special, and that’s just the thing for those of us who believe that 427 is truly a special number.

We wanted to bring you Mitchell’s World Products block, which we show you here, but we also wanted to show you what a typical 427-inch Ford small block looks like as it is in pieces and goes together using the stock and aftermarket parts available up to this point. To do that we made a trip to Smeding, where we had the opportunity to see firsthand how they put the engine packages together. Smeding’s 427 tips the dyno at 480 hp with a very streetable combination at a 9.7:1 compression ratio. This makes the motor quite livable as a daily driver but plenty potent when you need more than a little something under that hammer. Check out the assembly sidebar, where we show you how Smeding assembles a 427, and check out that Man O’ War beefy engine block so that you can decide if 427 is even enough!