I am in the beginning of my 512 lo-deck build and to be honest the BCR aluminum cap and girdle kit was the second thing that I ordered right after the crank and rod kit, I am looking to get up to 700hp from mine with the same heads but 12.5 comp and a slightly bigger solid roller.

Yes...

For me, changing main caps is too expensive to put in a stock block. If stock main caps won't hold it I want an aftermarket block.

Bingo. I use to spend as little as possible on my 8 and 9 second builds and when they cracked they cracked. 275 passes was the least amount I ever got running those times. Now with my mega block and Keith Black block I can lean on them a little harder. The amount of money it cost to girdle and line bore an engine is what I refer to as " stupid money". I never had a block leak water, oil, or break any other parts and the cracks were found on Winter maintenance.

With a girdle I didnt think you had to hone it..
but I have never run a girdle... just honing when
putting caps or studs in

It can't hurt, but I personally wouldn't bother. I'd use aluminum caps with studs and run it.
I'm going to test the limits soon of a stock block 440 w/ a stock crank and caps, ARP bolts. The motor is in the 680-700 hp range. Once I get it dialed in N/A, I'll turn on the plate.

Ended up going with a main girdle. Looks like a real nice piece and it should help out for what I'm doing. Thanks for the help everybody!

Hey Chip

Stock crank and main caps on a 700 hp piece? Plus nitrous? You, yourself, magged my crank at the 600 hp level and said it looked like cracked crystal. And you have to know that the main caps won't live at that power level with spray. Don't you think a set of aluminum caps should be added? We've all seen pics of those #4 caps.

At what horsepower do big blocks need a main girdle?
Answer: They wont hurt at any level.
The question should be, how much power can a bb make without a girdle?
Mine made around 1100hp with modified factory caps and a modified factory crank. No girdle. That engine was a 400 based 470 with turbos. There was a challenger with a procharged 383 making about 1200 with a factory block running around back then also. I can't speak for his internals, cause I simply don't know.
If I weren't so cheap, I would have put a girdle on mine. Here's what it takes to hold up to that power.... (yeah it's ghetto)

Short fill and aluminum main caps, but a short fill should be fine for a 600 HP build, should be. That's the problem, some are fine, some go boom, but every one I had showed cap walk.

The 440 in my brother's Gremlin is still alive. Completed two Drag Weeks, driven on the street regularly, race regularly. 3100 lbs., 8.90-151.

Stock caps, ARP studs, Stock crank, Eagle h-beam rods, Icon dished street pistons. Horsepower doesn't kill the bottom end of stock block engines, detonation does.

NUFF SAID.............

The breakage point is somewhat higher with turbo/supercharged engines than NA or nitrous. Peak cylinder pressure occurs later in the power cycle (more ATDC), and is lower than if developed by traditional high CR NA but lasts longer.

Am I the only one ever to make 1400 HP on a stock 440 block?
It has main studs and a 1/2 fill.😎
I went to aluminum block and heads

Peak cyl pressure can be changed with timing. The problem is with a N/A engine, you are against a wall with timing needs. A N/A engine can only make so much power at MBT... then you're done. Now you want more power, throw some timing at it. It makes more power, less tq. When tq starts dropping, it's because the engine is fighting itself. You're "storing" energy at tdc, and when the crank rotates far enough to use that energy, it does so immediately. Thats where the power comes from.
With a turbo, you can tune for MBT, and if the power isn't what you want- then throw some more boost at it.
Load dependent timing is what makes engines live. My low dollar bottom end made WAAAAAAY more power on pump gas than most "race" builds make on race fuel.
Keep the crank rolling forward!

PROBABLY.

At what point does the piston speed (FPS) factor into how much the bottom end is being beat up? IIRC when comparing a 3.75"-stroke turning 7000 RPM vs a 4.25"-stroke turning 6200 RPM, the longer-stroke combination was still creating more piston speed even at that much lower peak RPM.

About 10 years ago there was quite a few 440's in my area that were breaking on the track, everyone of them had stock main caps. I noticed alot of guys racing every weekend with aluminum caps so I ran 2 different cars with low deck 400 blocks and aluminum main caps. There's alot of 9 second passes on those motors with zero problems. I'm a firm believer in the 400 block, ARP main studs, and aluminum caps.

Now that I don't race anymore I have a Duster with a 500" low deck pump gas motor, I bought a 440Source girdle and used stock caps. It works great but if I was gonna race I'd have bought aluminum caps. I read a few articles that said you really don't need aftermarket caps with a girdle. My engine builder did need the girdle to do the machine work on the motor.

Here is one I managed to break with steel caps and girdle. 528 that was in my 63 Plymouth running a 150 shot of gas, it was going 9.20-9.30 @ 144, I blame myself for not taking out enough timing, you live and learn.
All the parts were saved and put in another block I had but now runs NA with BCR Ali caps no girdle.

Kenny L was doing the aluminum caps in 80s-90s on 400 blocks putting out over 800, I had one of their engines, 499. Get a crank with counter weights on the center main, no cap walk and very smooth from what I hear.