I've been working on a pretty cool project lately to replace the VG's OE main cap girdle with a bedplate that ties into the oil pan rails. The VG seems to be limited to 800-900 RWHP before it will tear the bottom end apart... not bad, but there's always someone who wants more. Starting with 2.75" thick 1045 steel plate, the profile and crankcase windows are cut with a water jet to create rough blanks. WJ blank compared to fully machined prototype. WJ blank weighs 74 lbs, finished bedplate weighs 38 lbs (stock girdle weighs 12 lbs). The passenger side of the bedplate features a built-in "power kickout" which captures the oil flying off of the crank rather than allow it to be drawn back up into the case creating drag on the rotating parts. Bedplate compared to OE iron girdle. This is one of the few places in the engine where additional mass reaps maximum benefits by increasing rigidity and reducing the natural frequency of the part... yes, just like the load of the engine can overcome fastener preload and cause main cap walk, a main cap/girdle can also become excited by the harmonics of the running engine and vibrate to the point it can overcome the main fastener preload and allow main cap movement. Some additional custom parts are needed to get a bedplate to work on a VG... 1) oil pump cover which interfaces with the pump's oil pan seal. 2) Rear seal holder. Making an adapter to work with the OE seal holder would have been much too thin at the apex of the rear oil pan seal. This first revision revealed that the seal bore was not concentric to the crankshaft by 0.010" due to reverse engineering it from an OE holder which was also off by the same amount. This part needs to do two jobs, be flush to the top of the bedplate to create a flat surface for the oil pan to seal to and be concentric to the crankshaft - this is almost impossible to do with all of the potential tolerances stacking up along with variations from one block to the next, so the next revision will have a separate collar to hold the seal and allow it to be located concentric to the crankshaft after the main holder is bolted to the block and bedplate. 3) Remote oil filter adapter. SolidWorks 3D model of the OE iron girdle. I used this to run FEA and compare to the 3D model of the bedplate. The test involved a 10,000 lb force applied to the #2 bearing saddle while the attachment points were held rigid. The bedplate material and design showed a 10X factor of safety over the iron girdle (0.67 to 7.2). With such a high FOS the bedplate weight could be reduced further but the cost to machine this weight off adds considerably to the already expensive part. SW 3D model of the entire package. More necessary custom parts, 4) oil pan, 5) oil pump pickup tube. The bearing saddles are rough cut with a ball end mill and will require a line bore operation once installed. While on the subject of "installation", multiple machining steps are required to fit the bedplate to a block... in other words this is not a simple bolt-on and go.
That looks pretty serious...I love it! Once all the R&D is sorted, will full kits be available with all the necessary parts required? Cheers Col
Here's my web page for the bedplate with package and price info - I'll be adding more info to it as I get the time. http://www.bde-performance.com/bedplate.htm
