The big issue I have seen over the last 2 years is you will only get 1/2 the story out of engine builders and that is to be expected because they will protect their engine program. Everyone I have talked to over the last couple years has stated that they have had issues with the mains moving on these high HP engines. Guys have tried a couple of different things to get the motors to "live" but at the end of the day they need to be serviced once or twice per season. When Shawn and I started the 2nd round of the engine program we said we wanted 2 things. First, we wanted the motor to be reliable and have the ability of going a full season WITHOUT needing to be serviced. Two, we wanted to make 2300-2500hp without losing any reliability.

So rewinding back a couple years, Kurt Urban was the first guy to break 200mph with an LS based motor. The guys @ W2W did countless hours of testing different types of support systems and only found one type that worked and kept the mains from moving. First came dowel pins, than a 2nd friction surface, than a mechanical key'd bottom. The system that they sold was an in-house deal also on the same type of mechanically key'd deal. Adding another "friction surface" was not enough to strengthen the bottom end of the block to prevent the block from distorting and the mains moving around. They also found the only solution was to mechanically lock everything together.

As far as the oil pan && bolt holes, you are not going to use a factory oil pan at this level so the bolt holes are not of concern. I can't think of anyone BESIDES a viper owner that would even try to lay down 1500-2000hp in a manual transmission application. I can't imagine why anyone would want something other than an automatic in something with that much power. At this power level your probably giving up almost 3/4 of a second to a full second between a M/T and A/T.

And as far as Ronnie duke, what was his service schedule? Could he go a full season? Was the bottom end moving? How did his bearings look on the service? Now you know he runs it, what was the result?

As far as the Dowel, with this system you don't need to dowel the mains to work correctly but it is good cheap insurance. And FYI My mains are not dowel'd. So the comparison is $1400 vs the $839. I looked at the DM main girdle but for my build it just didn't get the job done and after talking to some of well respected guys in the LS world, it would have HELPED but not solved the problem. This system is more than a bolt on deal, everything is machined so it locks the bottom end together.

On the DM performance girdle, how much movement does the main girdle have when you set it into place before you torque down the bolts? I would assume there is some movement since there is clearance between the pan rails and the girdle and the studs have to have some type of clearance? That movement will allow the block to twist and flex no matter how much you torque the bolts to. IMO there is no comparison between the two, as they are apples and oranges.