Is bead blast going to be soft enough for an aluminum crankcase where we need to reinsert a close tolerance steel cylinder?
And this one goes out to the machinists among you -
Is it possible to hone these cylinder liners outside of the block to a standard that will get us a proper crosshatch that will work with gapless rings? We used a deck plate on the A series in order to provide an assembled condition clamp load and minimize bore distortion, but I'm wondering if that's a viable option with a wet liner block such as this?
Bead blast is probably OK, as long as the blast air pressure is low and the beads are new. But it does need to be done carefully.
WE, (speaking Royally here) are going to make it "close tolerance", closer than the factory, by individually machining the tops of the barrels to the positive dimension we want to use, AFTER decking the block to the height we calculate. See, piece of cake, just like Marie Antoinette said . . . . . .
Let's face it, outside of the block honing of the barrels, is how the factory does it, and it works. I'm not certain we can duplicate the bore distortion in service, (we never could with the Renault . . . .), we just might have to resort to the "Top Fuel method" . . . . . . lots of piston to wall clearance to prevent seizing from bore distortion, as I did with the Renault. As long as we can get it to seal up, I don't care about how much oil it uses, as long as it does not compromise bhp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The only other choice is to epoxy the barrels into the block under compression similar to the "in service" compression, and then hone with a deck plate, etc. That might make the block and barrel assembly a non-serviceable, throw away item, like a motorcycle block. I am reluctant to suggest this with out a bunch of spares . . . . . . . .
The only way to intelligently decide this is to choose the ancillaries for the "package" ahead of time, with these options in mind. Need to consult with Wossner, Total Seal, Head gasket mfg, etc, to see what they suggest their parts can accommodate. Kind of like, you know, . . . . . a plan . . . . . . .
BTW, thanks for the well wishes.
Waitingforthedoctorsboy