hey i am rebuilding my engine out of my 95 camaro, i am woundering your guys oppinions on 2 bolt vs 4 bolt mains. my goal is around 600-700 with nitrous. dont worry im not just talking out of my *** like some may think. i am doing a 383 stroker all forged internals, and i am doing head work on stock heads, i was woundering with that kinda horsepower should i really go out of my way to find a 4 bolt block, i would have to find one out of the corvettes if so and that might get a little pricey. i am trying to go cheap with the block and am not buy new block or heads because i have acess to full machine shop and a good instuctor, i have built one 383 stroker but not to handle this kind of horsepower. i am woundering if you really think i need to to 4 bolt and why. i know its strudier and tougher but if 2 bolt can hold it then ill go with that. i have also seen kits to convert to 4 bolt mains but i dont know if it was for a lt1 or if it even matters as long as its a 350 block. if you have seen a kit please let me know. anything will help, thanks guys.

 

Splay the center 3 and put billet 2 bolts on the ends.

Your shop will need a line hone/line bore to do it

 

buying a sbc 350 one on ebay? suposedly eagle brand. any 350 one will work? i just dont want to buy one and have it be slightly different somehow than lt1

 

Nothing special about them. Standard SBC.

 

I wouldnt want to go any more than 500 horses with 2 bolt mains.

The 4 bolt mains help prevent the main caps from "walking." For the extra 150$ in parts and few hundred in machine work, its worth the peace of mind knowing their there.

When I build mine, you can be rest assured I will be converting to 4 bolt mains. Actually, Id like to just build a seperate 2nd engine that way I dont have all the down time in the process.

 

I am well above the 500 hp mark with the giggle gas on a 2 bolt studed block.
The KEY is take your time and triple check everything twice...umm thats like 6 times. It is true my all out race block have ProGram 4 bolt center caps with a few tricks done to them. the front cap is a billet one also but only a strap on the rear cap. it holds together very well with NO cap walk.

 

You can make a lot of power and spin a lot of rpms on a 2-bolt main, assuing that your reciprocating assy is well blanced and you do a line bore,

If you DON'T do goot prep, all the bolts in the world wont keep your engine together.

What 4-bolts seem to do is to allow the engine to last longer before running into recip assy problems.

 

Use a 4 bolt.

 

 

convert your 2-bolt into a splayed 4-bolt. Not only will the slpayed caps be stronger and better, the 2-bolt block has stronger webbing where the main caps bolt into.

stock 2-bolt< stock 4-bolt< splayed 4-bolt(converted from 2-bolt)

 

He was asking if they made lt1 specific splayed caps

 

thanks guys. i was a little worried about trying to find a 4 bolt block then remebered seeing conversion kits :-)

 

Would totaly disagree with you on that one. Have seen more stock 4-bolt block's crack in the bulkhead area where the 2 bolt blocks live. If this is a max build go to a splayed 4-bolt pinned set up. its the only true was to stop cap walk.

 

Why doesn't someone make a billet main girdle like the mustang boys have? I'd kill for something like that.

 

Ive seen it to, but for the most part something went wrong(all the times Ive seen it) but as for the block itself, the strength is all in the 2-bolt block

so maybe

stock 2-bolt~4-bolt....<............Splayed 4-bolt



and I have seen main girdles for SBC and BBC's before, on ebay actually.