OK, you could say why the hell do I have to worry about borrowing or fabricating one; that's because SBC isn't to common in eastern Europe and it's hard to find a shop equipped with tq plates.
I've got access to the shop specializing in waterjet technology - they can cut almost any shape in metals with very thin stream of pressurized water with addition of abbrasives, the thickness of steel material can be up to 2 in. They could fabricate a nice torque plate for $50 if I deliver material and AutoCad project, so the price is tempting.
I know that the big bores diameter should be 4.060 + .040", bore spacing is 4 1/2", but how should I locate bolt holes? I've a feeling that the head gasket is not to good as a template; perhaps it wold be ok to retrieve dimensions from a head - like put it on a scanner, LOL... I could also use long drill trough old head, but it's more "technical" to produce whole plate on a single machine, properly programmed. Tried searching the net for a drawing of deck or head surface but no results yet. Does anyone of you have a drawing like this or knows where to find it?

edit: bore centerlines are 4.4; not 4.5 in. from each other...

 

i'd buy a head gasket and use it as a template or to copy into a cadd file. i'd make the holes way over size, like 4.25, if it doesn't interfer with a bolt hole. water jet would be a fast clean way to make one.

 

I dont know if you have pulled your motor out yet. but i would pull the motor out and get it on an engine stand. remove bothe your heads and clean the mating service of your block and get a thin sheet of clear 1/8 clear lexan (plexi glass) and mount it to the top of your block with the head pins as if it were a head gasket then mark your holes with a permanent marker and then remove them drill them out the same size as the holes in the heads and take your already cut water jetted peices to a machine shop and have them match your pieces and drill to size.
That should work considering that you are just simulating the torqued stress of a cylinder head.

If all else fails contact a speed shop here in texas and see if they can give you the dimensions because it seems that maybe you wanted the bolts holes water jetted as well...

 

I've made a simple .dwg file and printed it on transparent foil; it fits 100% to the block if anybody is interested in web-hosting then I'll send it to him via e-mail...

edit:

 

i have a ton of free webspace.... send me a copy and i'll toss it up for ya...

MrDude_1@excite.com theres a "_" between Dude and 1 that you somtimes cant see.....

 

link:

http://josh.swoca.net/board/mrdude/tplate.dwg

 

here it is with big bores cut; need to drill bolt holes now:

 

surface after cutting with waterjet; not to clear, but I've just bought an electric die-grinder

 

for a water jet that looks a bit rough. most of the metal i have cut comes out very clean, but my metal is a lot thiner, and not steel.

 

I've been expecting smoother cut, too... It's caused probably by material with structural problems - you can see where harder grains changed the direction of cutting stream. Also don't know if the movement of cutting head wasn't to fast, but overall I'm satisfied.

 

i use it for tantalumn cutting. very dense but not too hard metal. takes forever to saw or machine.

 

Chevy small Block "Its whats for dinner!"

Could they have flipped it over and made the same cut from the other side for a smoother finish cut? Well you got it done and it does look decent.