best way to install girdle

You say it yourself, the HP levels you're talking about are only attainable with a turbocharged setup. No supercharged (of any sort) or NO2 engines could live at that output level. It's the harmonics and dynamics of the running engines that cause the caps to move, and then the main webbing to fail, assuming you can keep head gaskets and ring seal in it because the heads and bore walls move at those levels too. The thing to remember is the cost to properly prep a factory block vs the cost of a better one. It's simply not cost efficient to spend $3K+ on a factory block to get something that is as good as it can get, when you can buy a much better one pretty much ready to go for a small amount more. The last block I "maxxed out" was a $3300 bill for the block ready to assemble and that was several years ago. that included 4 Pro Gram billet caps, studs, lifter bore bushings, and the usual bore/hone/deck/etc. It lives just fine, but with the availability of better stuff now (Ritter would be my first choice rather than MP) it's just not worth it.


Yeah, prepping a stock block can get up there. I don't totally agree with the "you can buy a much better one pretty much ready to go for a small amount more." statement. The aftermarket blocks are still a small bore when they show up. They also have a higher nickel content. The bill just for boring my R3 was double what it would be for a stock block. So, they aren't quite ready to go when you get them out of the crate. If you plan on buying a 59 degree block, that is fine too, but then you are paying someone to mill away the extra head bolt bosses in the valley if your going to run a solid roller, which if your already spending money on the block, why wouldn't you go the extra bit to run a roller. OR you can go the 48 degree route as I have. Now the cam was twice as much. Then to save money, I put a 59 degree top end on it and needed to clearance the heads. Also now, the roller lifter's smack the bottom of my W2 intake manifold. haha. So now I cut the bottom of the intake off, and it's time to weld a plate across the bottom.

At the end of the day, is it worth it to go to the aftermarket block? I still say yes. It isn't cheap, but speed cost money, how fast do you or I want to go eh? When you sink a bunch of money into a stock block, make the big power numbers, and the block says "forget this, I am outta here" the aftermarket block doesn't seem like a bad thing to spend the extra cash on.

-Kenny