Originally Posted by johntsmith
I removed the starter to get a little more room to work and discovered the dip stick was mounted in a seperate block of steel bolted to the side of the block

That's an engine rebuilder's conversion piece that allows a different-year block to be used in applications that require a dipstick on the opposite side than original. You'll probably find the original dipstick tube hole on the other side of the block if it would be more convenient to have it there.
Jerry

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