disco192

Quick question:

Is it possible to have aluminum as the cylinder wall material in an engine.

I dont think it is possible, but a friend of mine swears his 03 cobra has aluminum cylinder walls.

Anyone know?

Schwanke Engines

iTrader: (1)

You can, but you need to have a special coating on the bore. It is a super hard coating, I believe one of them is called Nikasil. It is sprayed onto the aluminum and makes it able to hold up to combustion temps.
I am not sure on the cobra, maybe a ford person can help you there.

dewey04

iTrader: (7)

no aluminum cylinder walls on any production or aftermarket cobra blocks. I have only seen one engine it was a pro fwd neon engine from mopar very expensive and not for running more than 1 pass at a time. Some other uses might be out there but not sure what for because they are so rare.

XtraCajunSS

iTrader: (2)

Its been done before, as a matter if fact, the original ZL1 Corvettes and Camaros had sleeveless all aluminum 427's (THE ZL1). That block supposedly had a very high silicon content so that when it was honed, the rings actually rode on the silicon and not the aluminum. There were also some 4 cyl engines in the late 60's with the same techology.

Also, to answer your other question, I know of no late model Cobra to come with a non-sleeved aluminum block...

Shane

JUNK

Aluminum bore blocks are still in production today, but last I checked there was part incompatability issues between GM and briggs&stratton

thumpstick

Rotary engines have what would be the equivalent of aluminum cylinder walls. the rotor housings are aluminum, but it is also coated with a hard surface material. They all call it chroming since it is shiny, but not sure what the actual material is.

-John

PhantomSir

iTrader: (2)

Didn't Chevrolet try this on one of the Vega engines?

elias_799

iTrader: (8)

most of the aluminum engine has a steel liner or an iron sleeve. i personally would stay away from an engine that has no liner or sleeve.

Derek 357i

iTrader: (1)

BMW uses Alusil lining and previously used Nikasil. As mentioned, this is a hardened coating that goes on the bare cylinders. This makes the blocks unable to be bored without recoating ($$$ and hard or impossible to find someone to do it) Also, the higher sulfur gas here in the US ate the Nikasil lining, which resulted in huge warranty claims for BMW on the M60 V8 engines. (The PO of my car got a new engine @ 50K miles).

Avaric3

iTrader: (3)

the 03 cobra doesnt even come stock wit an aluminum block lol. only the sn95 and some 99s got the aluminum teksid block

elias_799

iTrader: (8)

^ finally a ford guy showed up.

Haans249

iTrader: (24)

Katech's 500CI motor has aluminum cylinder walls, they also use the hardened coating, i believe its nikasil

briannutter

The Katech 500 was Nicasil to begin with. At the AETC conference, Fritz indicated they later sleeved it (back to iron).

89importeater

yea, my dirtbike has an aluminum cylinder with a nikasil "liner" somewhat costly to have it bored and re-lined so i could only imagine the cost to have 8 bores done.

Mike454SS

iTrader: (4)

Lots of crotch rockets use Nikasil on the aluminum cylinder walls (I've worked with LOTS of those engines) and it works out quite well for them.

The cost and engineering involved in doing it yourself for your engine though...not worth it at all.

foreverzero

iTrader: (5)

03-04 Cobras all have cast iron blocks, the mach 1 is aluminum though

kickassT/A

iTrader: (3)

when the early jaguar xk8's came out (97) they had aluminum cylinders with nikasil coatings... most of those motors have since been replace under waranty as previously stated above with the beamer motors

blueshark123

iTrader: (51)

There are quite a few cars in production that have all aluminum sleeves. With the technology today they have become pretty strong.

gectek

iTrader: (2)

http://www.zr1netregistry.com/ZR1_specs.htm

SBROliver

The Subaru EJ series engines have aluminum cylinder walls, along with Honda H22 as well I think.

Oliver