small block Chevy, or similiar

also, how is the water jacket 'sealed up',
at the bottom?

there has got to be a 'seam', somewhere.

glue, bolts, press fit, for the seam?

are the cylinders, cast in, or sleeves?

 

The block is cast "around" the cylinders. When it's finished, it's basically all one piece. There's no "seam", as such, like where it's assembled; just where different casting features meet. The water jacket is "sealed" by way of being one continuous piece.

 

Yea, RB is right... basically, the block is all cast as one peice.

 

Cast than machined. Thats about it. I think only a few motors over the years were cast into two peices.

 

I don't understand how the water jacket 'void' is formed.

Is there a 'sand insert' that is knocked apart later,
or is there molding involved, if so, how do they
get the mold out?

or, What forms the 'outer wall' of the cylinders,
that part that will face water?

 

the water jackets are where the casting sand was when the liquid metal the block is made from was poured into the mold.

the term "freeze plug" isn't the correct name for the plugs in the block, they are casting plugs, that is where the sand is supported during the casting process & afterwards removed from the block.

many years ago the casting holes were sealed by screw in plugs. they went to the press in plugs because they were cheaper to make & install. a side benefit of the pressed in casting plugs is they do help protect the block from cracking in freezing temps, but only sometimes.

 

I've got a picture somewhere of all the cores that go into an SBC casting, I'll try to remember to post it later.

 

i saw a block mold years ago in shop class in high school, i don't think it was for a chevy, i think it was a ford,.... strange looking thing, it sure didn't look like you could get a engine block from it,.. but they did from the one in the film.

 

One of my senior design projects was to design something for the Honda engine casting plant in Anna Ohio. I am no fan of honda but their facility was simply amazing. It is down right cool how an engine comes to life in a factory.

 

These pictures are from "How to Hotrod Small-Block Chevys", by Bill Fisher and Bob Waar, published by HP Books. By the way, not one of my first choices for a recommended read, since it was written in 1976 and contains a great deal of grossly out-of-date information.

<img src="http://www3.telus.net/~crussel/cores001.jpg"><img src="http://www3.telus.net/~crussel/cores002.jpg">

From the accompanying text:

<BLOCKQUOTE>The cylinder block was designed for high precision in the foundry as well as the machining operations. With a large number of cores, there is a problem of variation on every core and the stack-up of variations during assembly of the cores. Fewer cores mean that section thickness can be controlled quite accurately. In the final design of the small-block Chevy there was less sand to handle and the end result is a precision casting which is light and low in cost.<P>The cylinder-barrel cores are formed in pairs. One left and one right barrel are integral with a crank chamber core in a Vee form. Four of these basic cylinder-barrel and crank-chamber cores are set on a slab. Two one-piece jacket cores are then slipped over the cylinder-barrel Vee cores. Only nine major and three minor cores are used in the casting of the block. By comparison, another manufacturer uses 22 cores in the casting of a V-8 block.</BLOCKQUOTE>