Quote:
Originally Posted by Synchro909
I neglected to say he pre heats the block before pouring. That would make a difference. It is clear you don't like it and what you say makes sense. I don't know the finer details of what he does so maybe he's being cagey.
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It is not a case of not liking what the does. It is a case that the science of babbitting a block dictates that babbitt needs to be peened. It is a basic fact of how a proper babbitt job is done. The metal is going to shrink and pull away unless you have a tinned surface to hold it in place.
While it is very difficult to find the facts on how to properly babbitt, it turns out it is mostly a clear science. To pour babbitt that is close to or the correct Ford mix you will need a 'hot' block. In reality you want the babbitt to solidify rapidly to form micro crystals. If it is heated up too slow or allowed to cool too slow large crystals will form and they will become crack formation sites. Just as you also can not have pre-existing babbitt in the pot and you must stir the babbitt a certain way before a pour and so on. You can learn most of this though reading some very technical articles and the aforementioned KRW catalogs.
A lot of people do babbitt, some know about the science behind babbitt. There is a lot of bad information out there. We learned the hard way back before the internet. We had guys that poured for 40 years tell us stuff that was very very wrong. That is why we seek out the science as best we can. Quite frankly, the information on babbitt is very difficult to learn.