I was trying to find the main stud girdle that fits in between the block and oil pan. I saw it on here and e-bay awhile back but can`t find it now.Any leads?

 

He sells them on epay, if I remember right his seller name is toelerich or tolerich. Be advised that it takes a little work and machining on the block/caps to install, not bad, but a point to consider for a rare block. The kit has the main and pan rail studs, and recessed thin nuts for the pan studs, all ARP stuff. Also comes with a necessary longer oil pump drive

 

I found it . Thanks

 

How cost effective is this, versus cross-bolting the main caps? And what is the effectiveness of both?

 

Since most FE blocks aren`t cross bolted like the rare race inspired 406`s and 427`s, this product will brace the bottom end together on the more common blocks.I`m putting together a 428 stroker with a forged 4.25" crank and plan to put it through it`s pace`s and this girdle seems to be a good new idea.

 

I have to agree with Art here....I think the money you'll pend on machine time for the girdle would be in the neighborhood of what you would be doing with a block for the much stronger either the 427 caps or the ProGrams caps.. and without having to stack gasket upon gasket up on the pan rail... Because with the girdle..anywhere you have clearence for the bolts, Mean there's room for either the Girdle or the caps to move..JMO..

 

I didn`t know anybody made the cross bolt caps.I e-mailed Pro-Gram for more info,thanks for the tip.

 

The girdle doesn't require any additional gaskets, if you were to put a gasket under the girdle, you couldn't get everything to align correctly under torque, and it would "float" on the pan rails, with no solid connection. We took a light cut off the pan rails to square it to the crank, as you would do with the decks, and fitted it so that by cutting just the number bosses off the caps, it supported the caps in the center, as well as tying them to the block. The rails, washers on the caps, and the light cut on the caps are all in the same plane, and torque together as a unit. There are studs for the pan rails, and recesses cut in the girdle for thin nuts, so the girdle is torqued in place to the block, using the nuts, with the mains, and then the pan is added with nuts on the remainder of the studs. Most would add a windage tray, so then you would have 2 gaskets, same as always with a tray, but the gaskets are beyond the girdle assembly and don't affect it- between the block and girdle only needs a touch of sillykone to keep the oil in, and you get a solid connection. When you consider how many pan bolt holes there are on an FE, that's a lot of little close-centered ARP studs torqued to the block to hold it in place, and a lot of pan rail to bear on, from 4 sides.