well back in 12 when I started piecing my W8 mill together I was nearly swayed going to this “new” Ritter block.... fortunately for me a couple of guys swayed me to go R3. Hindsight being what it is I’m very thankful for following that advice. I know of a few builds NOW that utilize the newer castings and they're doing well, as well as two that should be running soon out here in the west..... but I also know of a couple guys that tried these blocks back in the day that never hit the dyno due to the blocks “mixing fluids”. Dropping $3k+ on a block, + machine work just to find out it was unusable would have sank my battleship.... living through Stage VI and then W5... a block that created that level of misery would have pushed me straight to LS land .
Shilohs early Ritter trial and tribulations were well documented on Moparts. he had one of the few that lived and made good power, but not without issues.
“If” I hurt my 9.2 block, I’d prob look at the Ritter piece now.... or play with my 9.0 deck.