Cap straps installed

Well, after a bunch of this and that, the caps are now strapped on the 545. I also upped the main stud torque to 110 ft/lbs, up from 95 ft lbs. (using moly, of course).

I know looks are meaningless, but these things really look beefy, and I hope they help a little with the cap walk. I also took Jon's suggestion and dabbed some anti sieze at the mating faces of the caps and block.

Got the short block together, and ended up with .0025 on all the main bearings, and .0025-.0030 on the rods. The rods are a tad looser than I have been running, but they seem to be within reason.





Also, when degreeing the cam in, I was able to use the zero advance key. With the previous cast scat crank, I needed to run the 2 degrees advanced slot to make the cam line up right. Just another interesting footnote.

Looks good to me! But what do I know!

This will be interesting next year when you take it apart after the season. The increased clamping force and rigiditity from the straps should help. The never seize idea, seems to me could go either way. If there is any movement it will help prevent metal to metal fretting etc. but at the same time it could also act as a lubricant on the microscopic level and actually make it easier to move.???

Be sure to let us all know with pics etc. after you take it apart. This is a cool experiment, hope it works out well for you.

dkp

Good deal. It's no wonder they walked before.....95# w/moly is not enough i.m.o.

Did you clean up the caps and block registers where the caps walked, or just left them as is and dabbed on the antisieze??

I had been using 95 ft lbs due to ARP's installation instructions that came with the studs. Thanks to you guys here, I learned that most folks were using more than 95.

So I learned something, and fixed an error that I may have never caught before. I am assuming 110 ft lbs is OK, Lem?

I am hopeful that the combination of the straps and extra torque will be enough to make a difference, but I won't know the results till the next teardown.

I had the block line honed after the cap strap install, and at the higher torque number. The machine shop surfaced the caps and cleaned up the block where the caps mate up.

Greg

A O K .

Thanks!

Also, I wanted to say thanks for the ring set. That top ring is a hard mo-fo, as I discovered while I was filing them.

Greg

In the picture it looks like the strap is more narrow than the cap, like it's setting in a grove. Am I seeing that right? Also when you finished , how much did it change the main bore housing dimension after it was torqued to spec?

Blake,

That's an optical illusion. The straps are a full 1" wide. At the ends of the straps there is a 1/8" lip that is used to locate the strap onto the cap.

I do not know how the straps altered the dimensions on the bores, I didn't think to ask at the machine shop.

Greg

What studs are you using? my ARP's are all the same length, while yours seem longer where the straps are. also, where did you get your straps, or did the shop machine them out of bar stock? I'm thinking of doing this while in the off season, so any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

Karl,

I bought the straps and the studs from a guy who changed directions in his build. He said the caps were made by Mondello, but he did not remember which studs were with the setup.

The studs do not look like ARP pieces to me.

Greg

looks good man... looking forward to when you tear it down to check it out.

Something else that was interesting..... for the first time I measured the torque required to turn the engine over. It was 26 ft/lbs.

Not sure if that is a meaningful number or not, but it at least let me break out my Dad's (R.I.P.) antique beam torque wrench. Thanks, Pop!

Greg

Greg,the caps look great. I would be more comfortable w/those than a Girdle any day. Hope everything works out.

Greg,

thanks and it looks great. Now I wish I jumped on them back when you were thinking of selling them. Oh well, next time...

TTT