Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance torque plate?

I recently inquired about the extensive collection I saw at a shop and was told they use them with all builds. He also said 2” thick A36 steel has proved suitable for nearly every application and the aluminum or cast iron ones didn’t seem to make any appreciable difference. With that information and some time I got around to making one for a 235/261 and with having very sensitive (.0001”) dial bore indicators available I plan to check before and after and put the values in a table. Has anyone else done this and are there any guesses on how much movement I find or why these seem so scarce and expensive?

Curt, I would always use a torque plate for any performance build. But I have seen that an engine that has a 4 bolt head pattern is less sensitive to a torque plate, than one with a 5 bolt head pattern. You also need to make the bore in the plate only large enough for the hone to pass thru in + about .060 clearance. Making one to fit the 235 and the 261 together is going to make the bores in the plate to large to effectively pull the cylinders in when used on a 235, as is done when you torque a head, because the bores in the plate are too far away from the edge of the cylinders to push or distort them the same way a head does when you put it on the block.

CurtB, did you cut the plate out where the exhaust pocket is in the head?

Do you have a picture? (pit shures is neat )

According to 6inarow, BHJ has a torque plate for these engines, but its pricy. It was created by them from a project he was involved in some time back.

It’s difficult to say at what point benefit outweighs cost for this. Pressure on the deck surface will be present everywhere the gasket is and if it’s peeking out from the plate I agree with Scott in that it won’t be working properly. Right now the plate weighs 74 lbs. but I want it under 30 kg. (66 lbs.) so I can send it to U.S. friends as an expedited parcel. 1 ¾” plate is one option but I like the idea of contouring just inside the gasket profile however the extra machine time may cost more than the shipping saved. The used 261 gasket I have on hand is an original GM Canada one from a never opened engine and is .055” thick. I’m going to get one from my FLAPS but have a feeling it will be thicker/different and change things more than any other variable.

Yes, it was neat to see but I was surprised to see it was $600-700. that sort of bummed me out. But it is a cool piece. I guess it has 235 bore on one side and 261 on the other. I don't know how they did it, but BHJ told me thats what it was to be.

I would still like to own one someday