Stud Girdle
 

Looking to add stud girdles when I install my spring oilers, Wondering what you guys have used, that fit good with no binding. I talked to Brodix and they say the only ones to use are the two piece ones they and Bo Laws make. I really don't like the way those tighten to the polylocks, and I would think having a single plate would be better. They insist that the one piece girdles will not fit correct and pull or push on the studs and put undo stress on them.

The old Mec 1000SC had one piece girdles on them, and if memory serves me right, I think they used Crane?? I have never had a stud break since changing to the best ARP studs, but since I am going to add the oilers, I figured I would add girdles too. I know shaft rocker setups are better, but I am not wanting to pull all the motors to do that and the cost of the good ones times three does not appeal to me.

I had a set of comp girdles. Ran them on GM heads, Dart and Brodix. Fit all the heads perfectly. Install all the intake adjuster slide the girdle on then install the exhaust adjusters through the girdle one at a time. For like a glove.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]552976[/ATTACH] This is what was on the merc 900sc I worked on with brodix heads.

Where have you been!?!? I missed you!!!

Btw, instead of running 2 gaskets , one below the spring oiler and one above I used The Right Stuff to attach to the valve cover, easier to put on instead of lining up 3 holes

you ran the same comp girdle on gm,brodix and dart heads?

Sure did. Thing slid right on to each of them. So what do you do?

the brodix and dart have different valve angels than the stock gm head.it is a known fact that they require a different girdle.sure you can force them on but they won,t fit properly.what i do is buy the girdle that is made to fit the head.

I bought these comp girdles for my Engine Quest heads. They are made for the RHS heads, but being that the EQ head is the same casting basically, they fit them too.

Willie, something to consider. When ordering a set of girdles, make sure to ask what size base the included polylocks have. Some are .550, some are .600. You want them to match the rockers you are running. If you order a set that comes with .550 locks, and need .600 locks, the locks themselves are kinda pricey.

http://webster-industries.com/Stud_Girdles.html

they make some for the brodix heads ^^

They were all 26 degree heads and had a perfect fit.

Joe I was looking at those, But wondering if anyone here has installed them on Bordix heads. My buddy at Merc Racing told me they used Crane back in the day. He also told me that whatever I do use has to fit perfect, or you can do more damage then good. He said he has seen guys hammer them on, or get them slightly on , then tighten them, moving the studs. He told me people then wonder why the studs fatigue and you end up worse off then not using them at all.

Im running Webster's but their on AFR's, they are suppose to be designed for the head their going on, not one size fits all.

the reason for useing a stud girdle is to support the studs in an attempt to stabilize the valve train.if you install a girdle that is designed for a different valve angle it will try to bend the rocker stud.we all know what happens when you attempt to bend a hardened stud,it is just a matter of time before it fails.

i have installed some of the webster girdles,they are a good product that fit correctly.i also like the fact that they are american made.it is very important to follow the torque spec they send with the girdle,s.

Yes, and when it comes to the AFR heads, you have to make sure you have either Version 1, or Version 2 heads, as they changed the intake studs location not long ago if I recall.

are you saying the head in the picture is a brodix head?

good info,either v1 or v2 is stamped on the head.

joe,can you post the part number,i think a lot of guys[including me]will be trying the eq head.

ok!

LOL no I had to go on the internet to get a picture of the stud girdle. That is a L88 with the snow flake but the same rocker arms and girdle. I was waiting for someone to say something about that.

i remember when that was a good head,man that was a long time ago.

When are girdles recommended?

Little before my time but I do remember they would break the rocker bosses off and they did not weld clean from dirty castings.

I would say at a guess 650+ hp or if you are having problems.

that,s a good question and no doubt will get a lot of different answers.imo anytime you do anything to improve the stability of the valve train you also extent the life of the components.if it is in the budget i see no reason not to use them on any engine with a roller cam,even stock merc engines but then you also need to go with valve covers to clear the girdles.

Its Comp Cams part # 4035 .

http://www.amazon.com/Cams-4035-Diam.../dp/B002EDT37M

A couple months ago, just for chits and grins, I put a dial indicator on the rocker stud. When rolling the engine over by hand, I was getting like .004 of deflection on the ARP stud. I did the same thing, by pushing against the stud with my thumb.

.004 isn't really alot, but I can see that stud deflecting over and over and over and over millions of times on a running engine, I would think after a while that could fatigue the steel. Plus, how much is it deflecting when the valve is trying to open against cylinder pressure on the exhaust side? Then theres the spring pressures. David Vizard says in his book, just about any BBC with over 400lbs open, should consider a stud girdle.

Comp cams has a trunnion/stud upgrade kit for their Ultra Pro Mag XD rockers. It utilizes a 7/16 base stud, with a 1/2" upper portion of the stud. It is for classes that don't allow stud girdles. Just like when going from a 3/8 to 7/16 pushrod increases its stiffness tremendously, I believe the same goes for the rocker stud.

I have not had issues NOT running girdles, but like everything, we are trying to avoid failures. I've seen rockers break, poly locks break, and studs snap. Its easy to blow a head gasket when that happens , or worse, launch some valvetrain parts right into the engine. Like banarama said, if the girdle doesn't fit properly, it can do more harm than good.

I remember a time, when if you had a flat tappet cam with 575 lift in a bbc , with 120/320 springs, it was a hot cam setup. Today, guys are running around with 680 plus lift hyd cams, 500 or more lbs of open spring pressures, cams that open and close the valves super fast, turning more and more rpm, still want hundreds and hundreds of hours of service from their valvetrains in a pleasure boat, and think the rules from 1980 still apply. The game has changed a bit since then. Stuff that we all once thought was strictly for all out race engines, is now becoming standard issue, in a basic marine high performance engine.

Above 6500 rpm

I liked the Boobies better ^^^^

Will that work?

Yummy

talked with Bob M. a while back and he was saying they put a camera under a valve cover on BB on the dyno, said was down right scary on how much moved around, and not on a wild engine either, so I used to think the same thing, but now anything to add to stabalizing the valve train would be a great add.

[QUOTE=ICDEDPPL;4421554]Will that work?[/QUOTe

Works for me,

What camera was that. How many frames per second was that recording at and how was it mounted to not be effected by engine vibration impacting its frame of reference?

Polaroid with a wired remote ?

I recommend you check out JOMAR, they make them for AFR, Dart, Howard's and others. Great prices and guaranteed fit. I put them on my AFR's and fit like a dream and not too bulky either.

http://www.jomarperformance.com/

Do you know the part number for the Webster girdle AFR heads ?

I don't have it, Id just call them direct, there making me a couple sets as we speak, good guys

http://www.webster-industries.com/index.html

Thx, adding more To my list of crap to buy...

What valve cobvers you run?