Four bolt main caps material

Hi I have a question about the stock D0VE-A 4 bolt main caps what is the material of the stock caps is it steel or cast and if I want to exchange the caps to aftermarket steel caps will the outher bolts fit the aftermarket capsholes and are there pin dovels on the stock block havent tear it down yet. And the last question what are the D0VE-A 4 bolt main block good for with stock caps hp/tq. Thanks Melvin

Anyone

The production SCJ caps are iron...not steel . The aftermarket outers are splayed so I don't see them fitting the stock block . Back in the late 80s I had one of those blocks at 900 + hp it was but a 498" engine....I'm thinking the tq was 'only' about 725 lbs ft .

Thanks for the reply Lem thats makes it clear about the material and layout have the production 4 bolt maincaps block dowel pins

fordlord wrote:Hi I have a question about the stock D0VE-A 4 bolt main caps what is the material of the stock caps is it steel or cast and if I want to exchange the caps to aftermarket steel caps will the outher bolts fit the aftermarket capsholes and are there pin dovels on the stock block havent tear it down yet. And the last question what are the D0VE-A 4 bolt main block good for with stock caps hp/tq. Thanks Melvin

• The OEM D0VE-A cylinder block's 4-bolt caps are made of cast iron, presumably the same iron from which the cylinder blocks are cast. They have a parallel 4-bolt arrangement.
  
• Pro-Gram Engineering makes billet steel parallel 4-bolt caps to replace the OEM cast iron caps, and they should use the existing factory inner/outer 4-bolt holes. They also offer billet front and rear main caps (2-bolt) to replace the OEM F&R cast caps
  
• Several manufacturers (Pro-Gram, Blue Thunder, Milodon, CAT, ProComp, etc.) offer 4-bolt caps with 17* splayed outer bolts. These caps require new outer bolt holes to be drilled and tapped. All the billet main caps are made from one of several grades of carbon steel (exception: Milodon = iron), with the american-made caps typically being a higher grade 1045 carbon steel and the offshore caps being a 1025 carbon steel (which is still much stronger than the factory iron caps).
  
• If you have a 4-bolt production SCJ block, staying with parallel 4-bolt caps might better than adding splayed outer bolt caps which require drilling into the block right next to the pre-existing outer parallel bolt holes and thereby weakening the block.
  
• The cast caps/production 4-bolt blocks have supperted over 1000 hp.

429/460 Pro-Gram caps listed below:

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FORD 429 SUPER COBRA JET CENTERS (3 CAPS) $374.23 (<---parallel billet 4-bolt CJ caps for 2, 3, & 4)
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FORD 429 - 460 2 BOLT CENTERS $294.03 (<---parallel billet 2-bolt std caps for 2, 3, & 4)
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Ford 460 Flat Bottom Angle Bolt Centers $425.45 (<---splayed billet 4-bolt CJ caps for 2, 3, & 4, not sure but maybe for D0VE-A block?)
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FORD 429 - 460 FRONT $98.01 (<---billet 2-bolt front cap)
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FORD 429 - 460 REAR $279.93 (<---billet 2-bolt rear cap)



Paul

Thank you Paul thats cover it all wasn`t sure if you can get billet paralell caps to the production block I have a complete SCJ D0VE-A block carb to pan std bore but I think the A460 block is the best way to go for serious hp with oil mods and the long and fat cylinders walls at bdtc for big stroke and bore and the cap walk that seems to come up. Thanks again