I know WDINO73 lost a crank in his built LB7 as well. As for the seasoned block theory, there may be some truth to this. I know the 6.5's have a history of cracking in the main webs on the new style squirter blocks, but blocks that seem to last to 100K miles or so without cracking seem to hold up to most anything after that. They also have problems with heads cracking between the valve seats, but seasoned heads without cracks seem to last as well.