Snapped RJC gurdle stud

[cruzn57]

no I haven't ..

broken any,
but I'm the ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure type!

 

[Razor]

I believe it has to do with pan rail clearance bewteen the girdle and the block. If you leave a lot of clearance.. they will pop. And if you overtighten the nuts trying to pull the girdle to the block.. they will snap.

So assemble using small steps and dont gorilla them down.

Another thing that makes them snap are those trying to gorilla down the oil pan.. that will pop them as well.

 

[Grumpy]

torque them to 20#s and call it a day.. 25#s try and find all the pieces

 

[87we410877]

I think its Bull sh*t that if your trying to make something the best in the industry, you sell it with garbage hardware that breaks. Take a job big or small do it right or not at all !!!!

 

[cruzn57]

I'm not siding with anyone, but.........

I think its Bull sh*t that if your trying to make something the best in the industry, you sell it with garbage hardware that breaks. Take a job big or small do it right or not at all !!!!

improper install , or incorrect machine work makes the best piece , nuthin but junk,
I know main cap machine work, and gasket thickness all play a very important part in proper setup, even ARP bolts would be stressed if incorrectly set up! and could fail.
like I said, I have both, and have no complaints, so far.:biggrin:

 

[Mike Licht]

First of all the Cat Girdle is not mine, it it a product made by Cat Engine so please lets refer to it that way, lots of other dealers (Including Buick Vendors) besides me sell them and they sold them before I did, I only advertised them.
Second Jason never claimed that the oil pan studs were ARP that I know of only the Main studs
Third I do not know of any Cat Main or pan studs breaking, and I am sure I would have been dragged through the mud, tarred and feathered if they had.
Fourth As Razor stated the reason they break is the clearance between the block and the girdle, my opinion is that Jason bought very good quality (hard) studs (not garbage at all) which are also might be too brittle for this application and the softer units may work better there. Excessive clearance will be a problem no matter what you use.
Fifth, For the record we no longer sell the Cat unit, other Buick vendors still do, they have about 100 left from a run of 500 units. We had a falling out with them over the availability of cranks and and business issue so we stopped ordering from them. Considering how many are out there and the lack of problems it seems like it has proven itself to be a good value for the money. Most of their prducts were very good, they seem to have some problems in the business side of things however and I do not have time or patience for that these days.
Mike

 

[Grumpy]

Fifth, For the record we no longer sell the Cat unit, other Buick vendors still do, they have about 100 left from a run of 500 units. We had a falling out with them over the availability of cranks and and business issue so we stopped ordering from them. Considering how many are out there and the lack of problems it seems like it has proven itself to be a good value for the money. Most of their prducts were very good, they seem to have some problems in the business side of things however and I do not have time or patience for that these days.
Mike

sorry Mike I didn't mean you made them only that you sold them Like I said in my other posts .. **** happeneds and rather than crying over a problem ya FIX IT and go beat the hell out of it !! Been beating Melissa's car up here all week .. although she is talking it thursday for the rest of the long weekend the nerve of her !! :biggrin:

 

[jhanson1750]

Third I do not know of any Cat Main or pan studs breaking, and I am sure I would have been dragged through the mud, tarred and feathered if they had.

I know that what you say is true but when I read it THAT JUST PI$$ED ME OFF!!! Mike you and your team have been a HUGE help to me personally and it just chaps me......Well on to my earlier statment

jhanson1750 They break easily if you side load them! They are actually allen set screws and are RRREEEEAAAALLLYYYY strong for clamping force but are brittle so if you smack it on the side with it screwed into the block it will break.

This was in no way a stab at RJC. I think the studs he supplied are perfectly suited to the application. They are tempermental (I havn't found a GN part yet that wasn't!!) if the machine work or alignment isn't correct and they will break if banged around during assembly. I have looked and cannot find anywhere that Jason claimed the pan studs were ARP. Would that be a better choice? Maybe but I already read a lot of "debate" about the cost.


Sorry guys been a rough day.. Jon

 

[Razor]

And... the tighter you screw them into the rail.. if they do pop.. the harder it is to get them out. So if you crank them down with the allen wrench and for whatever reason it pops.. better have a welder to get it out.

I had a shop assemble a short block once and they popped like three of them... it was like 6 hours labor to remove the girdle and get out the broken studs.. and re-assemble. I have never popped one of the studs.. but I know going in... that they are weak and treat them accordingly.

Hope this helps someone.

And remember when tightening the oil pan.. as it also pulls on the studs.. sometimes its not the girdle nut but the nut tightening down the pan

 

[Grumpy]

sometimes its not the girdle nut but the nut tightening down the pan

well I was the "nut" just giving it the last tweak you know .. goin around the edge and then ya get that OMG that doesn't "feel" right

 

[chrisgarrett]

Julio,
I need to swap out my leaking pan gasket. Any advice on how to remove and tighten down the pan nuts without doing any damage? It's a small leak, but this thread has made me very nervous about fixing it.