Forged engine block and heads

[hllon4whls]

This is part talk, part tech.

I have an older friend that thinks that I should get a machined engine. His definition of a machined engine is one where the heads and block are one piece of steel that has been bored out as one for pistons, valves and intake/exhaust ports. He claims that all of the big dogs run this (top fuel and such). I know that top fuel does not run such a thing as I have been in the pits as they freshen the motors after each run.

Here is the tech part. Does such a thing exist? I know that there is no way that you could do water jackets and such, but the rest seems difficult and expensive, but not impossible. CNC technology can do wonders.

Hell, I bet Vince from OCC could cut one out on the water-jet machine!

 

[strtracer442]

Actually, it is mandatory that Top Fuel run a forged block, but they also put out around 7000hp, and do not use any cooling jackets.The heads are made of billett aluminum. It is not feasible, nor cost effective for you to do the same thing. Good, heavy duty cast blocks can be purchased for $1200-2800 dollars, and are more than capable of handling the stoutest of horsepower output. the reason that it is required in Top Fuel(and Funny Car) ,is for saftey reasons, the old style cast blocks could not hold the power and were exploding under the load.

 

[hllon4whls]

I did not know that their blocks were forged, but they use removable heads just like every other engine I have ever seen.

The main point was that the heads and block were machined out of one piece of steel. No head gasket, no head bolts.

 

[strtracer442]

Your friend is mistaken. Cylinder bores are tapered top to bottom, therefore the piston has to go in from the top. That means the head has to be removeable. Early motors were produced(early 1900's) like that, but were cast,and not relialble, smoked, made minimal power, because of blow by.

As far as TopFuel, there are only 2 or 3 accepted manufacturers(listed in the rule book) for TF blocks, but yes, they are forged, then machined. They use replaceable cylinder liners so the block can be reused. I was at a race a few years ago where a motor exploded, and the cylinder deck was still bolted to the head, but was completely detached from the lower block.

 

[hllon4whls]

My friend is one of those people who knows a little about everything, but a lot of times he is wrong. He doesnt run his mouth too much, so he is tolerable. I just turned 30 and he is about 45 or so, and I like to laugh at all his stories about how fast this car and that car was. People that are not into car performance have no Idea what a fast car is.

Some relic from the past is always faster than anything today (NOT IMO). Yet today for 10 grand or so you can buy a used v8 car, mod it, run faster than a yenko camaro and get 20+ mpg with the AC cranking as you drive coast to coast.

 

[crunchie12268]

What if you got the pistons in and everything, then instead of a head gasket and bolts you just welded it together. I wondered about this too, would be pretty strong. You could O ring the heads and water jackets to prevent them from leaking.

 

[5.0 HOtrain]

I like to laugh at all his stories about how fast this car and that car was. People that are not into car performance have no Idea what a fast car is.

Got that right brother