> The blocks used to be standard, designed with a bit of a margin
> even for the largest stock piston designed for the block. You could
> bore out the pistons larger with a small risk of the block cracking later
> and put in even bigger non-stock pistons. I'm not sure what the
> current cost of iron is but at one time it was about $25 a ton.

Yeh I heard about that, but nowadays I don't think anyone would risk doing 
that to a modern engine.  I suspect the aluminium block is designed almost 
exactly for each cylinder size to reduce weight (and hence fuel economy and 
emissions).  OK not quite as exactly as a Formula 1 engine (which you often 
see coming apart every 500 miles or so) but I think today things are a lot 
more precise due to the computing power available for simulations.

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