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DIY 5 stud main girdle and measurements with pics...

turbonator

turbonator

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Location
Lac Superieur, Quebec
6.2/6.5L Main Bearing Girdle
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We have had a few request lately for pics of our ''Pugg girdle'', so we decided to set up a new thread specifically for this..... as of now we have just over 1000 miles on the ''Pugg'' and are able to boost with over 20 psi with seemingly no ill effects (other than lots of power, that is....).

We built our girdle using 1.5 X 2.0'' X 3/8'' angle iron, this should be reduced to 1.5 X 1.5'', to eliminate material removal. It was just cut with regular cut-off wheels and a grinder, then hand filed for fit and finish.

Unfortunately my measurements were just on the side of a cardboard box and was misplaced, so we have only a pattern to work with now for future girdles.

This is a drawing made by MaxPf, please note that our girdle was machined to fit a stock oil pan(6.2L, 6.5L and hummer pans) the drawing requires a custom pan, yet the center to center bolt measurements are what you need most.

The military pan we used, had the oil dipstick .200'' further on the side of the pan, so a minor adjustment was all that was needed to be able to use all available oil pans for these motors.

Well I've babbled on enough here, time now for pics.......
 
......and pictures with the girdle installed on motor, including the hummer pan we used in the "Pugg".....
 

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It is very important that when girdle is built that it does not rock on the main bearing caps, as this will distort the engine block and put undue stress on the crankshaft. I placed girdle on caps and measured between cap and girdle with a feeler gauge, then filed girdle until the fitment was less than .002''.

The bolts that we used were just new head bolts, shortened down to proper length. Next one we do will be with studs, as the stud has less stress transferred to engine block as a bolt does. The head studs sold by ARP are not good for this, as the barrel of the stud is too thick to pass the hole in the main bearing cap. They do however sell individual studs to measure. We have since contacted ARP and have the part #'s of the studs, nuts and washers needed, depending on the thickness of the girdle material you will use.:thumbsup:
 
Those look really good, Turbonator.

I have had a thought regarding this, though.

What would be the pros and cons to making this a full frame that would rest over the top of the main caps to completely tie the girdles together?
 
i guess the pros would be increased rigidness.... the cons IMO would be more fab time, the increased price for nuts, washers and studs.... the same affect of cross-bracing can be achieved with block cement, and it is less cost prohibitive...
 
There is no actual part #, we ordered individual studs. Although there are suppliers whom have sets for the 10 studs. They charge about $100.00 more than they can be sourced at. They are not a supporting vendor. Check in our supporting vendors on this site, find one whom will order you studs, and we can give you the individual part#'s for the studs, washers and nuts. These #'s will depend on the thickness of your girdle, if you will use one, and whether you have the 12mm or 10mm outer bolts for the 3 center-main caps on your block.
 
We have another mounted on a block, with 3" of block-fill in it. We will take it to have the main line verified, and can report back of any distortions found. The full ARP stud set is also being sold, this is what we would suggest with this girdle type. We used this motor in a 10,700lbs C-5000 platform, pulling gross weight of 30,000lbs in the mountains here (trailer and excavator with stock in dumper). Pulled the pan and the heads when swapping the motor into the 3500. We inspected visually and did not see any abnormal wear and no cracks. So for us anyways, a girdle is a good supporting member on one of these motors. Even the harmonics of this motor seemed quite different from a motor without girdle.
 
im working on this , emailing ARP to help sort out part numbers, etc
will post when through figuring this out...
 
This is the pics of our second version of the girdle that will be used in the motor with the block cement and ARP main studs....Verify flatness.jpg002.jpggirdle breath.jpgmin 075.jpgfitment 2.jpggirdle assembly.jpggirdle torqued.jpg2 girdle 3.jpg

......so far we do not have a milling machine so they are all hand made, and we verify straightness and flatness step by step. No rocking on the main caps (checked to -.002"), and torqued down in three steps. There is a minimum of .075" clearance from the rotating assembly. Will work with all the oil pans for the 6.2/6.5L. We tried them all, including deep pan from the hummer.
 
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