Why hasn’t somebody came up with?..................

[CarMichael Angelo]

A main stud girdle for a 5.0 that actually includes a oil pan.

Think about it..( Cause I have a bunch)

If there was a spacer that ran the perimeter of the pan rail the same thickness of the main cap height ( so,..a 2”thick piece of billet aluminum/ steel)
It is drilled so that a stud kit would pass through it to hold an oil pan on. Sandwiched as a final layer is the main cap girdle. That piece would end up looking like a really wide version of the existing main stud girdles currently on the market, except the thing not only uses the main caps to hold the structure together, it would use the pan rail as a secondary mount point to tie the whole thing into the block itself.

The pan would end up looking like an LS pan and be real shallow, as the spacer would serve to give depth to the sump of the pan.

And if it could be made to sell for like 750.00 as a system.......I wonder if it would add any strength to allow the poor little engine to be safe past 500 hp?

 

[90sickfox]

The issue with the block strength isn't the caps. The caps can walk... but the biggest issue is in the material above the camshaft journals in the valley. It would help ( possibly ) save the rotating assembly. I have a girdle on my 331ci.

People would probably buy that system though... just because it looks cool... like cold air intakes.

 

[RangerJoe]

They did, it was called the halo girdle and was about $400. For whatever reason it never took off. I found it online about 15 years ago and production was pretty much over at that time. They were made out of georgia if I remember correctly.

Joe

 

[RangerJoe]

Here ya go, little different than your design, but pretty close to your idea.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Here ya go, little different than your design, but pretty close to your idea.

Now a girdle like that makes sense. The only thing I woulda did different ( on that one) is space the straps off of the main caps.( looks like they required them to be machined to make that one work.)
Using the pan rail to help support the mains takes all of the force off of the cam saddle where the stock block always fails. It just makes sense that if you strap the mains together, and then ADD a secondary support path for the whole rotating assembly, that would be worth investing in, as opposed to just tying the mains together.
The problem with the one pictured is that it would've caused oil pan interference issues when trying to get the engine as low as possible in the compartment, and because if their concerns for that, they didn't make the whole thing stout enough.

They shoukda marketed it as a 750.00 kit with a height compensated pan..then they could've made the thing 3/8-1/2" thick.
Better yet, for 1000.00 they could've sold it as a kit with cross bolted caps and bolt the sides into the straps ( or like I'd have, the spacer that runs the perimeter) that hold the thing down. You woulda have had to have the mains line bored and that woulda added another 350 to the bill.
So,.....that answers that.
You'd have 1350.00 in an engine that may or may not tolerate 700 hp, or you spend another 500-650.00 from Ford and get one that definately will.

If I had a belly button engine though..........there'd be a "Madmike engineering" version of one of them holding my stock block together.

 

[RangerJoe]

Now a girdle like that makes sense. The only thing I woulda did different ( on that one) is space the straps off of the main caps.( looks like they required them to be machined to make that one work.)
Using the pan rail to help support the mains takes all of the force off of the cam saddle where the stock block always fails. It just makes sense that if you strap the mains together, and then ADD a secondary support path for the whole rotating assembly, that would be worth investing in, as opposed to just tying the mains together.
The problem with the one pictured is that it would've caused oil pan interference issues when trying to get the engine as low as possible in the compartment, and because if their concerns for that, they didn't make the whole thing stout enough.

They shoukda marketed it as a 750.00 kit with a height compensated pan..then they could've made the thing 3/8-1/2" thick.
Better yet, for 1000.00 they could've sold it as a kit with cross bolted caps and bolt the sides into the straps ( or like I'd have, the spacer that runs the perimeter) that hold the thing down. You woulda have had to have the mains line bored and that woulda added another 350 to the bill.
So,.....that answers that.
You'd have 1350.00 in an engine that may or may not tolerate 700 hp, or you spend another 500-650.00 from Ford and get one that definately will.

If I had a belly button engine though..........there'd be a "Madmike engineering" version of one of them holding my stock block together.

Back when I was looking at these they were pretty much done producing. I considered trying to make my own. To me the metal looks a little thin and could stand to be thicker.

Joe