I think needing a stud girdle would depend on how stiff your valve springs are and how much lift your cam has. If its a daily driver then you probably don't need a stud girdle unless it has a huge cam and wicked springs which would make it somewhat unreliable in my opinion. I think you would gain more from having an electric fan than an electric water pump, plus it would be hard for an electric water pump to keep up with the demand of a long distance driven vehicle. The electric fan will help save your water pump, especially during those higher rpm episodes that seem to happen with hot rods. I had an electric fan on a daily driver and had it wired to a toggle switch so I could turn it off on the highway. As long as I was driving over 35mph it was fine with the fan off and that was with a somewhat built 429. Chris