Ah, the 010 block debate.  Fact or myth?  I don't believe anybody really knows.  BTW, legend has it that it's not the block casting number that denotes a high nickel and/or tin content.  It's an "010" or "010/020" raised casting under the timing chain cover and also near the engine mounts.  These particular blocks were commonly found in first-gen 302 Z/28s, and heavy duty truck applications.

Some engine builders will tell you that these blocks are more difficult to bore/hone.  Others will tell you there's no difference.  

GibTG I contacted a few machine shops in my area to find out more info, because i dont like to spew false information, and higher nickel content, according to the local mechinests, have better longevity for bores and rings compared to lower nickel content blocks. So now that we have more information saying i am right, go back to your hole and come back when you have something usefull to tell me  

oh yeah, and non of those guys at the machine shops are buddies of mine  

This combo should make 400tq or better around 3500 a crane energizer .454 lift cam,the heads and roller rockers you all ready have a performer or summit dual plane intake,headers,600cfm carb. and with flat top pistons and the heads you have you're compression should be around 9.5:1.You might want to check out www.northernautoparts.com they have good prices on rebuild kits and also have up grades on there kits as well.I recomend these up grades if there in your budget hypereutectic pistons, moly rings,brass freezeplugs,roller timing set,hi volume oil pump,the shaft for the hi volume oil pump and felpro gaskets.Also ARP rod bolts this should make for a engine that will hold up well.  

I don't disregard that adding Nickel to iron in a casting improves the strength. The problem is you don't even know if it was done by GM, or if it was added, in what amounts.

I'm probably wasting my breath but what I'm gonna say is useful. Don't waste your time locating a block you believe is going to have a high nickel content just because you think it will make your rings last longer. What would you think would be more important, Increasing the nickel content .1 or 1% or having severe core-shift that creates a thin bore wall? There are many more important aspects to look for in choosing a block than some myth your buddies/machinists have sold you on...

P.S. Your machinists were working on New Years Eve? Amazing, I guess it's possible because it isn't non-working national holiday but it sure isn't like that up here...  

Funny enough, I tried to contact a Machine Shop yesterday and sure enough they were closed for New Years Eve.

Also I didn't hear any grief from the Machinist I go to about boring my Buick 455's. They are high nickel thin casted blocks. But I didn't ask about it either.  

ok, now what do u got, now what is z28 springs, gotta get detailed, cant just throw it together and expect it to run, first a roller motor consumes roller lifters,roller rockers and a roller cam, to find a used combination of this, gotta be lucky and alot of time to tear down, just buy a kit, u even get fresh new gaskets, go to a machine shop and make a new friend, u gonna need it because u are at the beginning of building  a motor. camel humps are good heads,  maybe just give a roller motor a break and just go with flat tappet lifter and cam,   dont break yourself or your feelings man,,, u take care  

I looked at some of those "kits" on eBay.  It appears that the "budget" priced ones are Taiwaneze copies of American race products.  I am real concerned with quality control.  I noticed that the market is suddenly flooded with two SBC intakes.  One is a cheap copy of an Edlebrock Performer.  The other is a sort of tall intake.  I checked feedback on both.  Tech minded people were critical with these.  Bad castings, inconsistant runner diameters, shoddy repairs with epoxy, etc.  I went ahead and spent the extra and got an Edlebrock.  I would do a lot of research before buying one of these crank kits or stroker kits listed on eBay.  Better off, go with a proven kit from Summit or someplace similar.

You say you want your El Camino to beat anything at a stoplight but you don't want to spend a lot of money?  Sorry, you can put a fortune into your Elco and it still won't beat a V-Tech Honda.  It will make a nice tire smoker tho.