Main girdle spacers

[SilverXJ]

Put it on. It was added after Jeep removed weight from the block. Your machinist sure sounds lazy.

[Missourian]

We'll make sure it is added and the oil pan is massaged to fit correctly. Not sure why folks don't cut and mig to fit but heating and beating is certainly something I can do.

bad oil pan...

[Jeep-Power]

raising the dead here-- Mine hits on the balance pads & on the little square things sticking off the crank (crank journal #2 & #5)



thanks for the reassurance. gonna go with some washers & red loctite & call it done.

hoping my CJ pan will clear

[EDIT] - A little work on the very rear lower corner (back by the flywheel) with the air hammer was all it needed. THe nuts & edge of the girdle were just hitting. Some gear marking compound helped pinpont the contact spots. Basicly I just had to make the corner sharper-- the radius was not tight enough.

[Jeep-Power]

what do you guys think is the minimum clearance between the girdle & the ends of the rods? I had one at .010, but thought that was a little tight...

[Cheromaniac]

what do you guys think is the minimum clearance between the girdle & the ends of the rods? I had one at .010, but thought that was a little tight...

Yeah that's tighter than a bull's ass at fly time. Just add spacers to gain some clearance; 0.060" should be sufficient.

[Jeep-Power]

Yeah that's tighter than a bull's ass at fly time. Just add spacers to gain some clearance; 0.060" should be sufficient.

Nice.

I settled for 0.030 or so. The amount needed to do so was about .090.

[SilverXJ]

While .010" would probably have been okay I would be more comfortable with .020"

[Retlaw01XJ]

I was at 0.015" min, with others 0.025" and more.
For spacers, I bought hardened washers from Fastenal. IIRC they were 1/8" thick.
Oil pan needed some massaging to fit.

[604rail_king]

i initially used some regular grade 5 sae 3/8" washer for testing. they were approx .070" in thickness each. when stacked 2 high and tq'd down, it gave me a rough clearance of .080" (+ or - a hair) from balance pad to girdle which is very safe. this also gave me a solid 4-5 complete thread turns of the nut, but the stud head was a tad concave in the nut head. all in all itll work.

today i went out and picked up some true hardened flat washers in the same thickness to be on the safe side, and plan to use some red loctite.

pan clearance is next

[DaemonForce]

I've seen quite a number of posts about this girdle and the clearance issue with high displacement stroker builds but I've never actually seen it when tearing apart an engine. Would my project benefit from adding one? Something tells me no.

[RenoF250]

What year was the girdle added? My 1994 did not have one. Frankly it looks like a waste of time, not much there compared to the strength of the block.