Quote Originally Posted by camaro_fever68
I have proof in the shed that two bolt mains do not make good stroker engines. My block has 1200 miles on it and shows bad cap walk. Studs do not fix the problem. It was not a high hp/rpm motor either. The problem is the registers where the caps fit do not have enough clamping area to control the extra throw of the larger crank. If you keep it stock stroke or destroked, it should be o.k. If you were to stroke a two bolt block, keep it under 375hp and 5500 rpm. As for pricing, I pay 100-150 for 4 bolt blocks.
Maybe your caps where loose to begin with.
Did it need line honed,line-bored?
You are right studs won't always fix the problem but they do lower the chance of having a fastner break.
You already know how bad I hate the 400 blocks.
We still have a 377 that is a 2-bolt main with an ARP stud kit in it we run on the very small 1/3 mile track.
That track goes "dry slick" after about 3 laps and the 377 will see 7,800+ rpm's very quickly.
Keep in mind this engine is 13.5 to 1.
We just pulled it down and it had about 20 nights on it.
The caps where still very tight.
IMO very few of the street cars out there really need a 4-bolt main.