Reply to "351c main girdles"

Joules is corect. All day? What are you planning??? NASCAR pushrod engines that run at, for instance- Martinsville short track, turn 9200-up rpms for 250-500 miles. They cost 'over $80,000' each to people like Jack Roush who buy parts by the truckload and test 24/7 to utter failure on dynos. Most internal parts are thrown away or sold to street guys on E-Bay after a single use- including the crank, rods and Ti-valves. FWIW, there is not one cheap factory bolt, nut, casting or forging in these engines.
On a more reasonable note, as long as you're not trying to run Bonneville or a 92-mile-long Silver State open- road race in 3rd gear, and you use other than a production 351-C or 351-W block, you won't need a main girdle. You may need a VALLEY girdle that ties the two cylinder banks together to keep from owning two four-cylinder blocks, although splitting open like a walnut is usually confined to over-revved 5-liter blocks- both factory and aftermarket. The weak spot in production 351C blocks is above the main bearing bosses where the cylinder water jackets end; main girdles, aftermarket 4-bolt mains and aftermarket con-rods will all still be torqued to specs when the whole lower end of the block blows clear thru the oil pan, dry-sump or not. This happened at LeMans in 1972 on the Bud Moore stock-block engines used in the semi- factory GR-4s, incidently. Most hi-rpm V-8 engines built nowadays are for drag racing and you can get away with lots there that will be fatal in a long-distance high rpm endurance engine. Good luck, all you lottery winners....