Hello, with this 552ci engine I am putting together, (Scat 4-500 stroke crank, Scat 6/7 H-beam rods and 060 Pistons ) I am trying to find out if the Ford main bolts will be strong enough ? or should I go with Arp main studs or a stud girdle , I have been told horsepower will be around the 600 mark, Edelbrock 61649 C/Jet heads, Victor intake and a 2 circuit 1050cfm Dominator carb, Car will not be raced ...just built for High performance, if I do have to use a stud girdle is it any 460ci stud girdle or is there a special stroker girdle I have to use ??? Thanks Jamie.

 

absolutly arp studs!!!
they're very cheap insurance.. girdle not a bad idea either.
definitly under 100 bucks on ebay anytime.. new. i forget what i saw then for but not expensive

 

youll be fine with the stock mains and bolts for 600 horse, but make sure you have the block align-bored to make sure everything is trued up.

 

stock bolts just o/k, ARP bolts better, ARP stud kit much better, stud girdle probably
overkill for your application, but for the reasonable cost of this insurance WHY NOT

 

actually when I did some research while building mine I found that the guys running studs were having more problems with cap walk then the guys running bolts. This is a major reason that canton quite providing studs with thier main girdle (it was the canton rep that got me researching it and found out he was right) they went to all ARP bolts and I did too. Now the first year I did get a little bit of cap walk but figured out I was getting just a touch of detonation with 110 octane so next year upped it to 112 octane and zero signs of cap walk (or detonation) and that is using canton main girdle and ARP BOLTS.

at 600hp the stock bolts would be fine, but for piece of mind I would opt for arp main bolts.

 

ARP bolts are cheap enough, why not have the extra insurance? Your torque specs will be more accurate. I wouldn't use stock bolts on a rebuilt over 400 hp. Not worth the risk IMO.

 

Thanks guys, is that Arp main studs or Arp main bolts ???? I think Arp main bolts by the feebback, as I looked at a stroker stud girdle which they wanted near $300 for it, thanks for the input. Jamie, OZ.

 

Absolutely NOT ARP studs for the 460...at least not in their current form.

Actually, then can be a very expensive mistake.

You sure you don't mean "not a good idea?"

Don't EVEN get me started on buying cheap parts through ebay.

Paul

 

Keep the engine in good tune and the OEM main bolts should be just fine in your build. They are a high quality bolt and chances are that they have had little-to-no abuse over their engine's life.

We have managed ~1800 hp with oem main bolts, not that I'm suggesting everyone go out and do this.

Paul

 

paul, why don't you explain your self on the studs, why are they crap and what it is you do not like about them. I'm gussing you are in favor of the bolts. Also on a 2 bolt block why no girtle, I run a 4 bolt block with stock bolts so I don't worry about it, but maby this guy would like some more info. And I totally agree e-bay, too easy to get ripped off with parts that will break in the first pass.

 

ok mr kane if your going to rip my thread explain to me how ARP studs on ebay are different than ARP studs from anywhere else, how can it be an "expensive mistake" Anything installed improperly can/will fail. i have ARP studs FROM EBAY on a 514 in a puller, its still running strong. used parts are used parts, thats why you dont reuse them for perfomance applications.. may as well omit the all the machining, like line honing, sonic checking, all the things you do to get the most out of your investment.

 

Hello northern 7.3, What horsepower are you making in your puller ??? I think with ebay what they are saying is that you might pay for Arp main studs or Bolts but get sent some cheap copy instead... I will be using the Arp head studs with those Edelbrock 61649 C/J heads as compression will be around 11-1.

 

Northern Jamie hit on it exactly IF the studs you get from evilbay ARE ARP then they are the same but there is a lot of stuff sold on there that is copies and not the real thing. example do a search for K&N or MSD distributor and you get mostly things that are "like K&N" or "similar to MSD" but you have to read the ad VERY closely to find that little disclaimer and usually they make it a huge ad that is hard to read except he part about ARP studs and the cheap price.

Now I don't know all the physics of why on the 385 series engines the main studs don't work as well as the main Bolts but the fact is they don't. I do know the ARP mains studs for this motor are necked down in the middle, which the bolts are too but on the bolts just below the head the shaft necks back up to full size which then provides SOME side to side support for the top of the cap where the stud doesn't have that support and relies totally on clamping force to keep the cap from walking.

I am not physics expert, that can explain all the ins and outs of it, and I have been one in the past to recommend studs on the mains (and on some engines I still do) but on the 429/460 2 bolt blocks I have seen first hand as well as heard from others that have done it both ways and the bolts just plain work better then teh studs. In fact I actually saw the results of one guy running studs and having a fair amount of cap walk so in a last ditch effort decided to put the stock bolts back in for a couple races and actually reduced the cap walk with stock bolts vs ARP studs. What this tells me is that you are actually better off sticking with the stock bolts over even ARP studs. So IF your going to go aftermarket my suggestion is go with ARP BOLTS.

take it for what it's worth, but it's been mine and others experience and observations I just posted.

 

jamie i was very interested in monsterbaby's reply about bolt's/studs and i can see where his comment of the shoulder of the bolts improves stability is very interesting. still my younger brothers 1968 f100 with 2 bolt block did survive10 years of drag racing
with arp studs and a home made girdle. revs up to 7500rpm and low 10 et's. i may have to rethink bolts or studs ???

 

well the power is not huge, never dyno'd. its a dove headed 13:1 514. the arp studs i got are true ARP's they came complete with the arp box, stickers, and some paper work and whatnot. mine have provisions for a windage tray, which i did not install....yet. i turn the engine reasonable hard though at times...depending on track. dont know what rpm exactly...i run a magneto i dont like the price of the cable drive tach's.