Currently building stroked RB, just wondering if girdle is worth the extra dollars over aluminum cap upgrade? Who's running what?

I run his main cap and girdle set up. With a stock block I thought it was worth the price. My engine is a RB 505 stroker . I don't know who is making BCR stuff now. When I bought mine he was still making them. Only problem I had was the studs on # 5 cap hit the back of the oil pan and the pan did not seal. Took awhile to figure that out , a few smacks with a ball peen hammer took car of that. The only other thing was it looks so nice it's hard to cover up with the oil pan.

we make the bcr cap and girdle system here in troy Michigan and have been building them for about 5-6 years now. sold tons of kits all over the world.

if your going to be pushing your block to more than 550 hp, the cap and girdle kit is the best insurance you can get for your bottom end short of an aftermarket block.

the full kit is $700.00 + shipping

we've address the rear stud issue and on all the oil pans we tried, the rear studs now clear the oil pan so there shouldn't be any issues.

if you have any question feel free to call or email me and i'll be happy to answer them. btw all of our parts are in made in the usa from the fasteners to the metal that makes up our kits. no oddball soft materials here. the aluminum is from Alcoa in Cleveland and the steel either comes out of Pennsylvania or another state out west.

the web site seems a bit confusing,i clicked on it and there didnt seem to be any info on the girdle kit or anything related.needs to be some hint of where to go or at least some info on the main caps and kits.

girdle info is still up at www.bcrproducts.com

that one works....bcrproducts.com,the other one,sdconcepts has no info on it about the caps,girdles,etc...

I can only go by what people are telling me on this one, I have some guys say they are building a 1000 hp engine, is it a fact? don't know. I do know I've got guys running 8 sec quarter mile times and they are on the same set of caps for going on 4 years now. every fall they do maintenance and take the main caps off and check the bearings and see no cap walk and the bearings look almost brand new.

a lot of my recent customers are hard blocking the engines and then putting a girdle kit in and building 512-535 cu in engine for massive torque. everyone tells me they can't find an aftermarket block.

there are just too many factors to actually list a hp rating the kit is good for. what I do know is that its the best insurance your bottom end can get against cap walk and bearing failure that's on the market right now. our girdle kits are only $700.00, when you price other peoples caps at 350-400, then a girdle at 225.00 its only a few bucks more to buy ours, but your guaranteed to get ARP studs in our kit and you don't have to double nut them hold the girdle down. and we secure the number 5 cap as well.

That's more what I was looking for, some real world examples of what's working. I know it's impossible to give an exact hp rating with all the variables that can cause you to run over the crank on the big end.

My thought is to do a 3.900" stroke low deck with Indy SR heads and build it fairly light, possibly with aluminum rods and the BCR girdle system. I'd want to hit it with roughly 350hp of spray eventually. I tend to be pretty conservative with tunes and take incremental steps. I've managed to keep my 451 stock crank and block together for several seasons with just a girdle and stock caps on a 300 shot. Something tells me it's on borrowed time though!

Sorry to Hi-jack the thread...

I hate to see posts like this that turn into I ran the engine for 4 years. What the heck is 4 years????? 6 runs a year 20???? Every hard core racer that drives a 8 second car SHOULD know exactly how many runs, not years. These post have zero info on whether a product helps or not. My low 9 second no-stroker combo went 357 passes without concrete or a girdle. My 498 inch stroker 440 lasted "275" 8 second passes before it cracked up thru the mains without concrete or a girdle. It never leaked a drop of water and was found by me during the Winter maintenance. Some racers only hit the track 2,3, 5 times a year so to last 4 years is nothing. In cars this fast having a "run count" is crucial to running a safe race program.

I wish all racers kept accurate records like you, I[m sure some of the ones that use our products do and they might even be running faster. unfortunately I can't go and collect data on everybodys combination just to help justify selling $700 parts.

if you had zero failures running stock caps and no girdle and had that many passes than that's a tribute to your machinist and you putting a great block together with some luck thrown in that nothing cracked up sooner than expected or you didn't lose the bottom end and oil down a track.

whenever you stress components past their design limits like every racer does, then you will always be on borrowed time. this product is like insurance, you don't know you need it until you do, and when you got it your glad you did. can you race with out it? sure. I can also race with a bad tune and too much nitrous. can you do it? sure, will it sure, maybe once or twice if you catch it.

everybodys combo will be different so its impossible to say that you'll be okay without a girdle and you definitely need one. if you don't want to run one. don't. on the other hand if you want the best insurance to help keep it all together call me.

Jerry, Thanks to you and all the other moparts members for your input. I will get in touch with you as the build proceeds.

We have really freshen up some engines that had aftermarket caps and caps with a girdle and all have had cap walk. If the engine is making good power its going to happen. We are seeing aftermarket blocks with cap walk, aluminum and iron with the max effort engines we do. We have had the best luck using a stock block with our aluminum caps with hard block at the 800 HP level. We would not recommend much higher and never tell someone not to worry. The stock block still has a bore that will limit the cylinder head type and the wall thickness is only so much. To quote Chuck girdles are for fat chicks

Pete, do you have a pic of your aluminum cap?