I think as I look at all the offerings I would go for the Pond block, the fully enclosed mains are a big plus for me as a selling point. I suppose all the aftermarket blocks are an improvement to some degree. I would say with original blocks getting harder to come by it is a good thing you can buy a replacement in general no matter what design. When the day comes to throw down the green I will look deeper into the attributes of the current blocks and make a decision then. It was mentioned in another thread that a tall deck may be in the works with bigger bores, I would definitely be interested in a monster like that for my Comet project later on but for now my 68 390 445 stroker is eating me up already. Either way on the next build I will be much wiser from what I have learned from you guys as to the good, the bad and the ugly LOL.