In any internal combustion engine, the design or configuration of the cylinder or its liner is of critical concern. Exposed to the full effect of combustion at its upper part, which falls as we go down the cylinder, the component has to be as light as possible yet still retain its mechanical robustness with minimal distortion. As bmep (brake mean effective pressure) and engine speeds increase, cooling therefore assumes a major importance. Read more…

Dare I say it but a good cylinder block can be likened to a good husband or partner. For as much as it is desirable to have the best of all the qualities in a spouse, in the end the woman has to make the best of what she can get and adapt it to suit. In a good cylinder block it is desirable therefore to be strong, mechanically stiff with a high resistance to wear on the rubbing surfaces, resistant to corrosion and have excellent thermal conductivity. Furthermore it must have low density, low thermal expansion, good machinability, be easily cast Read more…

If you were to look inside the brain of any true engineer, you will find the phrase: “Make it smaller, cheaper and better”. Smaller invariably means lighter, cheaper satisfies the bean-counters among us while better is the goal we often set ourselves, the one that plays to our ego and sense of pride, and the one we tend to judge ourselves by. So while designers are always producing engines to the smallest size, at some point someone in the future will always want to extract even more power. Read more…

With engine manufacturers increasingly moving towards lightweight engine architectures, keeping the length of the engine to a minimum and using lightweight materials - particularly aluminium - is an obvious start. However, the process of replacing parent-metal cylinder liners in one-piece cast aluminium blocks, later on in the life of the vehicle, is fraught with difficulties. Traditionally, in less challenged times (both financially and engineering), blocks would have been re-bored and fitted with a system of separate wet liners. But with interbore Read more…

I can hardly believe it - it’s now almost 50 years since hard rock first came to our ears. That genre of music produced by (often distorted) electric guitars, bass and drums, sometimes accompanied by piano or keyboard, made its mark on the 1960s - much like, in a different sphere of endeavour, the invention of nickel silicon carbide began to influence cylinder bore coatings. Read more…

The inexorable push towards ever-lighter engines with even greater levels of durability is more pressing now than ever. Challenging targets for CO2 emissions (read fuel economy) in the road vehicle business, together with pressure on production costs in the motorsport sector are forcing engine manufacturers to look at parent metal bore technology in aluminium cylinder blocks like never before.

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You’ve just reached the midpoint of the season, your engine is a little ‘tired’ and so you send it back for a general rebuild to tide you through to the end of the year. As a ’spec’ engine, identical to others in the formula, the builder will no doubt strip it and check it for wear on the valve seats and tappets before rebuilding with new bearings and gaskets. But what does he do about the piston rings and cylinder bore? The engine may be slightly down on a cylinder leak-down test and so some form of remedial work may be necessary. But how much and what kind? Read more…

I don’t know what it is about component failures but we engineers tend to find them fascinating. We may have designed and produced the most elegant piece of hardware, but it’s somehow only when it fails - and the more catastrophically the better - that we sit up and take note.

Sometimes it isn’t the fault of the component but perhaps the environment into which it was placed. Sometimes it may have worked well in engines over many Read more…

It is surprising how often people get mixed up between the prefixes ‘hypo’ and ‘hyper’. While ‘hypo’ refers to a situation that is less than normal, ‘hyper’ relates to exactly the opposite. As an example of such confusion I have a neighbour who speaks with a highly refined tone and continually refers to her ‘hyperchondriac’ husband, when I am sure she means ‘hypochondriac.’

So too are the differences between hypoeutectic alloys of aluminium and silicon and their hypereutectic alloys.

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At the time of writing there is much speculation about the new engine regulations in Formula One. Originally scheduled for 2013, the fact that discussions with the various interested parties are still ongoing must surely indicate that some form of accord has yet to be struck.

In order to design and develop a new unit, as well as working out the best options in any semblance of order, two years is perhaps pushing things a little, so 2013 seems rather optimistic now. Gone are the days when Read more…