So here’s a thought that’s been rolling around in my head for ages.
The factory caps had individual spacers that were hand picked for the positions they fit.
The aftermarket caps have built in spacers, requiring precise machining to the block to get the right fit.
Would a cap that was built with an adjustable, threaded spacer , be an easier solution? Basically, for instance, the cap would have a protrusion either side with a large diameter female thread, the “spacer”
Would essentially be a hollow bolt that could be screwed out to interface with the block. Then the actual cross bolt would thread into the cap through the center of all that. That way, from a machining standpoint, the only critical thing would be ensuring that the pan rails were machined square to the cap centerline so that they didn’t impart and twist.
I realize that there would be slip or play in the outer threaded portion, however, once it’s all torqued down that might not be a problem. This would also allow a certain ammout of pre loading to the block, like the old 1.5l turbo Indy car motors used. Since it’s the fore and aft movement of the cap that is what we want to control (correct?) would such an arrangement work for that?
Kinda just thinking out loud, but like I said it’s a thought I’ve had for years, logic tells me that if that was a viable solution, someone would have done it already…
Joe
