Aluminum Cylinder Walls?
Aluminum cylinder walls The H22 Honda and the 2ZZ Toyota four bangers, Subaru EJ257 race blocks among others, use a MMC or metal matrix composite cylinder wall coatings. It is pretty tough stuff and eats my inserts when I sleeve these blocks. The pistons have a coating to make them compatible with the cylinder walls. Any after market race piston can be used after I sleeve these blocks, plus the ductile iron sleeves are stronger.
The Vega and the 430 Can Am blocks were cast in Reynolds 390 aluminum alloy. Mercedes uses or used the same alloy in some of their production blocks. This alloy has a high silicon content. Bores are lapped after honing to leave the hard silicon particles on the surface. Pistons were iron coated in these engines to prevent scuffing. I used to sleeve a lot of Vega blocks back then because many scuffed cylinder walls due to variations in the silicon content of the mass produced blocks.
Steve
The Vega and the 430 Can Am blocks were cast in Reynolds 390 aluminum alloy. Mercedes uses or used the same alloy in some of their production blocks. This alloy has a high silicon content. Bores are lapped after honing to leave the hard silicon particles on the surface. Pistons were iron coated in these engines to prevent scuffing. I used to sleeve a lot of Vega blocks back then because many scuffed cylinder walls due to variations in the silicon content of the mass produced blocks.
Steve
__________________
Steve Demirjian
Race Engine Development
Oceanside, Ca.
760-630-0450
web: www.raceenginedevelopment.com/
e-mail: race-engine-development@***.net
Steve Demirjian
Race Engine Development
Oceanside, Ca.
760-630-0450
web: www.raceenginedevelopment.com/
e-mail: race-engine-development@***.net
Im glad someone finally bought up the Reynolds 390 blocks. Those things were incredible, especially the 494 Big Block.
BTW, Ferrari has been on Nikasil liners since the days of the 308. So what does that tell you.
BTW, Ferrari has been on Nikasil liners since the days of the 308. So what does that tell you.
Ferrari Actually it is the 328 and later Ferrari engines that have aluminum wet liners. The 308 used ductile iron wet liners. I have a large bore ductile iron wet liner kit for the 308 328 Ferrari engines.
The aluminum liners save weight but they won't stay round nor hold the power that a ductile iron liner will.
Steve
The aluminum liners save weight but they won't stay round nor hold the power that a ductile iron liner will.
Steve
__________________
Steve Demirjian
Race Engine Development
Oceanside, Ca.
760-630-0450
web: www.raceenginedevelopment.com/
e-mail: race-engine-development@***.net
Steve Demirjian
Race Engine Development
Oceanside, Ca.
760-630-0450
web: www.raceenginedevelopment.com/
e-mail: race-engine-development@***.net
Teching In
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: H-Town, Tejas
The Vega and the 430 Can Am blocks were cast in Reynolds 390 aluminum alloy. Mercedes uses or used the same alloy in some of their production blocks. This alloy has a high silicon content. Bores are lapped after honing to leave the hdumdumdum silicon particles on the surface. Pistons were iron coated in these engines to prevent scuffing. I used to sleeve a lot of Vega blocks back then because many scuffed cylinder walls due to variations in the silicon content of the mass produced blocks.
Steve
Steve
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 328
Likes: 3
B&S engines use a non plated aluminum bore...
Plated cylinders are real common in power sports, and street bikes, there are a couple turbo snowmobiles that make 530 hp from 2 cylinder 1200 cc engines (thats 7.2 hp per cubic inch) The plating is bullet proof, much harder than rings pistons, or any thing else that rides in there. The only time wear or damage becomes an issue is if something else goes wrong and parts bounce around in a running engine.
http://www.mt-llc.com/
and
http://www.usnicom.com/
are 2 places that do it in the US, msrp is about $200 per hole to strip / bore/ re-plate/ and hone.. Far cheaper than the 400 to 800 per cylinder to replace with new on a bike or sled...
Plated cylinders are real common in power sports, and street bikes, there are a couple turbo snowmobiles that make 530 hp from 2 cylinder 1200 cc engines (thats 7.2 hp per cubic inch) The plating is bullet proof, much harder than rings pistons, or any thing else that rides in there. The only time wear or damage becomes an issue is if something else goes wrong and parts bounce around in a running engine.
http://www.mt-llc.com/
and
http://www.usnicom.com/
are 2 places that do it in the US, msrp is about $200 per hole to strip / bore/ re-plate/ and hone.. Far cheaper than the 400 to 800 per cylinder to replace with new on a bike or sled...
Last edited by Krom; May 30, 2009 at 10:52 AM. Reason: add dyno chart of 530+ hp 73 CI engine
Actually it is the 328 and later Ferrari engines that have aluminum wet liners. The 308 used ductile iron wet liners. I have a large bore ductile iron wet liner kit for the 308 328 Ferrari engines.
The aluminum liners save weight but they won't stay round nor hold the power that a ductile iron liner will.
Steve
The aluminum liners save weight but they won't stay round nor hold the power that a ductile iron liner will.
Steve
Dunno if it was mentioned, C6R block is aluminum with no sleeves (saves weight/ affects handling), this engine isn't designed for longevity just to run a race.
Jaguar did have a production aluminum block, no sleeves, I don't think most made it to 100k miles
Jaguar did have a production aluminum block, no sleeves, I don't think most made it to 100k miles
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Teching In
Joined: Sep 2007
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Most of the Prototype cars in the ALMS and euro Le Mans series use all aluminium bores. They use a Nickel Silicon Carbide type coating (Nikasil?) on them which has a harder surface than iron does, which means less friction, and no heat expansion issues that are associated with iron liners. Even NASCAR engines, which are iron bore/iron block use Nickel coatings because of less friction on the rings and longer bore life.
the original GM aluminum engines had of problems because at first they didnt modify the water jackets to compensate for the different material.
