lower end

[Ts86ttype]

I have looked at some past posts on making the lower end stronger. I see some use steel mains and some the RJC girdle. I don't have a machine shop that can line bore the steel mains so any thoughts on the RJC girdle?? The motors out and torn down so I'm thinking why not make it better even though I only get to the track once in a while... Tom G.

[Keller]

A very good choice.

I believe that the bottoms of the main caps must be machined flat to allow the girdle to do its work. This may be possible with the stock caps, but I'm not sure. And its probably not as desirable to do with the cast stock caps. That puts you back in the same quandary.

This is not my area of expertise, so I'd advise contacting RJC for confirmation. The girdle is definitely a way to bulletproof the bottom end, but it takes a large time and money investment to install it properly.

[PaCemkr86]

and ive heard alot of people that run the girdle complain about oil leaks..

I never ran a girdle but i did have billet mains and ARP studs
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z250/pacemkr86/Motor16.jpg

[Ts86ttype]

Thanks Scott and Phil... I'll do alot more research on this and let you know what I find and do... Tom G.

[Keller]

I believe that leaks were more prevalent of an issue on their earlier girdles. They had an early run that had more leak issues due to its design. They offered to modify those. Details about those are on the RJC site.

FWIW, having two pan gaskets seems like it would present more chances for leaks no matter what. At least to me.

[Ts86ttype]

Thanks Scott for the imput... I Emailed RJC and asked a bunch of questions about install of their gridle... Thanks again. Tom G.

[kenmosher]

Even with a girdle, you'll probably want to run a line hone thru the mains ... the girdle will possibly slightly change the bore alignment (especially if it trues things up that might have been slightly off).

[Ts86ttype]

Thanks for the imput Ken. Is everybody installing all main caps with steel or just #2 and #3 main cap? Tom G.

[kenmosher]

Mine just has #2 and #3 ... I think ideally I'd do a girdle (if I was doing it again) AND the steel mains and that would prevent any kind of "walk" or movement.

The steels have worked fine on my motor, but I've seen some slight evidence of movement in the block register (but then again, this motor has made 650+ HP on the engine dyno).

[PaCemkr86]

just 2 and 3 here also

[slowgtp]

I gues I'll chime in on this because I'm in the process of getting my GN up and running again. At what power level should you go with a girdle? I plan on building a 10 second capable set up but my local track won't let me run faster than 11.5. So I'm thinking I'll just go with billet caps. I guess seeing a 650 HP set up with billet caps makes me feel better about this...sorry for the thread jack.

[kenmosher]

Common wisdom is around 500 HP you need caps or girdle.

BTW, pick a GOOD machine shop for a girdle install ... I've seen some really messed up cranks with shoddy installs. It is CRITICAL for the machining to be spot on with a girdle or you induce twist or out of round in the mains and then the REAL problems start.