Quote:
Originally Posted by flatheadmurre
Problem is if you alter the design nostalgic racing and the high buck motors are out of the equation.
Making an aluminum block sounds great to me...but how big is the market ?
Anyone involved in an adventure like this wants to at least break even in 3-5 years.
Get 100 paying customers to sign up for a block and then you can start thinking about it.
A prototype engine will not end up in the 20k range and for a small scale production to be within a reasonable cost you need templates and coreboxes to be made.
I have the furnace and will gladly poor your block if you fix the rest !!
But making the templates is not as easy as breaking a block apart and copying it.
You have to make compensation for shrinking.
Find out where to put the ingots and other things which will be different with aluminum.
You cant use coresupport rods the same way as in cast iron.
So will have to be some kind of wetsleeve engine.
Lots of small bits and pieces that ads up.
I said it before...i admire all the people doing stuff like this for the hobby...real labour of love!!!
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If it were not for the aftermarket the small block Chevy would not be where it is today. Nor would the BBC nor even the vaunted Chrysler hemi.
There are quite a number of companies that manufacture blocks and heads for all of these engines.
For example the big block Chevy is limited in its ability to compete at today's competition levels. They are simply not capable of acheiving the displacement levels that today's racers need.
Solution? The aftermarket steps in and builds a big block Ford between the Chevy big block front cover, and bell housing flange. Everything in those new mountain motor engines is moved around and improved. It just so happens that those changes mimic what Ford did from the factory with the 429-460 engines.
This point always comes up. Maybe the powers that be need to revisit the question of a new Flathead block. Do Chevy's that run at Bonneville run factory blocks and heads?
Furthermore I wouldn't hinge the viability of such a thing on whether this block would be legal to race at the Salt Flats.
I want the guy with the '40 Coupe or the hot Model A or a hundred other street combos that would like more performance and oil control.
Look guys, block prep is ALOT of work. If you don't figure that time as money then a new block will never be a viable option.
Now as far as casting problems in aluminun I know almost nothing. I admit I have everything to learn. I will just say this. Maybe some clever internal design characteristics could be incorporated that would not change outward appearance not much if at all are in order.
Has anyone ever considered a two piece block for example? Can the valvetrain area be manufactured as a separate piece? Before you pooh pooh the idea, think about it.