Full Girdle casting

[simon]

I have been thinking about a full girdle or skirt that incorporates the panrails and all maincaps in one solid piece and splayed outer bolts as to strengten the bottom end of the 6.5.

I contacted a more or less local foundry that is willing and capable to cast them to specs" [to be provided ]. using nodulair cast iron

This does not include final machining.

The oilpan will have to be modefyd too

As always is the case , quantity brings the price down.But I did not get a quote yet. It depends on the # to be fabricated.


Question
would there be any interest in obtaining one of these castings? If so i will persue this matter further.

please let me know.

Simon

[gvig]

Having already ordered the splayed mains and sent the block to the machine shop means that what you suggest wouldn't fit my need, however.....

A skirt extension that could be bolted/pinned to the bottom of the block and would overlay the splayed mains (or stock mains for those not so modified) which the bolts would go through, before the outer main bolts were torqued in place..... it would go on after the mains are in place.... that would perk my interest, in fact, price allowing I would be one of the first in line with my hand raised.

Such a skirt extension would be much easier to cast and machine and less expensive too, perhaps a little less stiff but added to the splayed mains it would make it as stiff as needed.. IMHO.

The pan is easy to modify, hand form some metal if necessary, create some pan rails for the bolts to go through, crank up the little mig and away we go. For the 2wd trucks it would allow some creativity to add sump/cooling capacity. Unfortunately us 4wd guys wouldn't have that option.

George