i hope this doesnt count as vendor bashing,but i've looked at several dozen engine blocks from junkyards and friends' collections and noticed all of them had off-center cam bore bosses on most later model GM 350 blocks(1979-up).i just pulled the standard bore original 1973 engine from my old parts hauler and upon disassembly i noticed the boss around the cam bore is perfectly centered,i realize this is not a definite indicator of core shift and is probably just cosmetic but it seems that there may be a lack of concern in a quality casting appearance for post-77 GM blocks,has anyone else made this observation?

Yes, you are correct. Many of the manufacturers changed their castings during the late 70's and early 80's. Alot of this had to do with decreasing the weight of the units to assist in fuel mileage and also to lessen the cost of manufacturing. You will also find that many of the manufacturers moved their primary casting facilities to foreign countries or at least had some of the work done there. I worked in production engine remanufacturing for many years and this was a common problem particularly when trying to produce in high volume while maintaining adequate product quality. You could never count on every block being the same. Just my 2 cents - but if you inspect "early" and "late" blocks you may find several deficiencies not the least of which is alignments.

bt,
You are correct but ....
1. It does not make a single bit of difference in the intended applications.
2. It rarely makes any difference in most "normal" performance applications either.

Bill is right UNLESS you decide to max. bore one!!

pdq67