Quote Originally Posted by Dave Severson View Post
Over the years, we've never bothered with the girdles on any of the engines that are always in the 500 horse and torque range and the closest thing we've had to a bottom end failure is a bad thrust bearing---once.... Used to build them with the splayed 4 bolt caps, but we don't even bother with that anymore, just the 2 bolt setup like the factory sent them out.....
Oh yeah, 500hp is a snoozer for the 2-bolt block. I think I posted a 737 hp build on this Forum that we did a few years back, 528 cubic inches. Turning 6000 rpm sustained up and down the Colorado River for the last few years, the 2-bolt block is doing just fine.

Tune is what's critical in cases like these.

Paul