at what point are they needed or do are they beneficiary? what are all the benefits?

any idea how much weight a girdle would add to an ls1?

 

anyone?

 

To strengthen the bottom of the block?

 

I'm far from a professional, but as I see it, a 6 bolt main block with billet mains Should handle 1000 rwhp no problem. If your looking in that range or more, then I'd start thinking about the girdle. Most of the ones I've seen were made from billet aluminum, so i couldn't see them being to heavy...

 

There is a pretty informative thread about this in the FI section somewhere, search there. I have a custom girdle made by W2W on my iron motor...it is made out of aluminum, so weight addition is minimal. Kurt would probably be able to give you a more exact weight though.

 

I would think that with an Iron block it isn't as crucial as a Aluminum block, but I would estimate that anything under a 1000hp would not see a benefit.

 

In the engines I'm more familiar with (na and much less than 1000hp) a girdle is used when the webs and caps aren't strong enough. The widest use I've seen is on small block Fords, where the webs are very flimsey and many builders limit the engine to under 450hp and definitely no more than 550.

On SBCs, I've seen straps on 2-bolt mains (I have them), but not a girdle. With a six bolt cap, does the girdle do anything? It would seem there would be so much meat on the cap and block that it wouldn't move around.

 

I got mine from DM performance and I couldn't be any happier. It weighs about 3.5-4.0 pounds, not really that heavy at all. But really strong, its made from 304 cold rolled stainless steel and even came with custom ARP studs. Hope this info helps!