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ARP says June at the soonest for main studs. Ford shows the oil pickup stud bolt as being discontinued. I'm disinclined to re-use the stock bolts because the specified "special" torque is 95ftlb which is higher than the International manual's "standard torque" for grade 10.9 bolt of the same size.
Machinist needs the fasteners so pulled the trigger on CNCFab girdle, which will come with ARP studs and play nice with the oil pan. Overkill but at least I'll have some fasteners and extra prevention against walking cant hurt!
The late Brian Gray (may he and his son rest in peace) also had a lower profile girdle that worked with the stock pan.
Is Brian's girdle the same as Corey's girdle? Are they in fact the same flat plate girdle, or if they are of a different design? Can someone shed some light on this?
I also don't know if anyone took over or is continuing on with Gray's Diesel business. The website is still up, but it isn't possible to determine from the website what the actual status of the business is.
I do know that the 7.3L main cap design has been found to exhibit crank walk when the engine is pushed to higher than stock power outputs, and the load being pulled doesn't want to move easily.
If I were to tear down a 7.3L and build it back up again with the goal of it producing almost double the stock horsepower rating, I would absolutely consider a bedplate of some type.
YASSSSSS!!!!!!! I soooooo approve that last statement
I figured you'd approve of this development
Originally Posted by Y2KW57
Is Brian's girdle the same as Corey's girdle? Are they in fact the same flat plate girdle, or if they are of a different design? Can someone shed some light on this?
I think the design that CNCFab (and Irate it seems) sell is originally a "Wide Open Performance" design by "Zane". Or at least, per the pictures, it looks that way:
International was able to give me a deal on rod bolts at 20 a piece instead of the usual 26. Still far more than ARP : (
I went ahead and put my name on a list hoping they get the rod bolts in stock soon, the mains as well. Ive already built an engine once, I don’t want to do it yet again.
I do know that the 7.3L main cap design has been found to exhibit crank walk when the engine is pushed to higher than stock power outputs, and the load being pulled doesn't want to move easily.
If I were to tear down a 7.3L and build it back up again with the goal of it producing almost double the stock horsepower rating, I would absolutely consider a bedplate of some type.
I may have experienced exactly this failure mode...
In terms of filling in the slight front cover scoring, would aluminum brazing rod be suitable alternative to welding?
I showed this to my machinist, mechanic and super smart friend and he saw no problem milling that face down to eliminate scoring.
He sees plenty of room for pump assembly to move back on crank, etc. when looking at the disassembled parts I have laying around.
Maybe get an opinion from your machine shop?
As far as bolts go, I don’t know what’s adequate. The last engines I built were for 600hp and got ARP everything. The ‘built’ engine I put in my truck several years ago made 578HP on the dyno before I bought it (with 2000 miles on it) and ran it for over 125k miles at <375HP (175/0 and 160/0 injectors). It broke a forged rod. No clue about the details of that build...
I think it’s because I painted the block BLACK. I haven’t done that since....
