Quote:

---

I know all the theories and hear all the claims of how the girdles help...........I just don't buy it and don't use them. Doesn't make me right or wrong, just my opinion.

The cap and the webs are the weak link. You put a better cap on it, the webs take the brunt. You put a girdle on it, the webs STILL take the brunt. You put alum caps on and for lack of a better way to phrase it, the caps absorb some of the pounding. I think THAT works better and is the way I choose to do it. If the webs were thicker and had splayed caps like other motors, this would be a non issue. Unfortunately that is NOT the case and we have what we have. As AL said, even the cross bolted Mega block doesn't SOLVE the issue, but the block is better, has more meat, better metal, better cap and cross bolts........so it SURVIVES better, but is not FIXED. You are not going to FIX something that has a poor design without a total re-engineer. So your option is to crutch it and make it as good as it can be. With a skirted block, MASS is your option, since splayed caps aren't

Monte

---