dino ferrana Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 According to Auto Express the Aussies have developed a new Magnesium alloy for engine blocks. It is a quarter the weight of cast iron but apparently stronger than steel! Would make an excellent material for a Caterham engine by the sound of it! Imagine a 2.2 VX or BDR unit with none of the weight problems! Currently being tested in a VW Lupo 🙆🏻 Why? OK so it improves emissions and fuel economy but surely something more exciting could have been used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony pashley Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Not an entirely new idea - there were, for example, magnesium alloy block DFVs back in the mid-seventies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Presumably current F1 engines must have the same ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Ask to Porches owners of 2.7 RS or same period model with their problems with the mag sump Mag when getting older is a problem (same with old mag wheels) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Even the humble Mini used Mag alloy on some of the early gearbox casings.. Oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 If you think you have problems with the K-series and cooling, that is nothing compared to the coolant choices required if dealing with magnesium. Magnesium is very susceptible to corrosion in cooling systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino ferrana Posted February 22, 2003 Author Share Posted February 22, 2003 It is apparently an entirely new alloy of Magnesium (doesn't say what with). I imagine as it is being tested in such a mainstream car that they have or can overcome a lot of the corrosion and stress problems. Afterall elemental magnensium is flamable! Imagine how light a K-Series could be in this metal! It would be bike engine light with more power and torque! I read a couple of weeks ago that the new Carrera GT is using forged alumminium pistons! Not something I have heard of before? Must have weight advantages? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Forged aluminium is a very common piston material for good quality pistons. I think you have got yourself confused somewhere along the line. Standard engines tend to use cast aluminium and a good upgrade is to put some forged in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino ferrana Posted February 22, 2003 Author Share Posted February 22, 2003 Yes sorry 😳 it was an extremely heavy night last night! I have a client who seems to thrive on drinking totally ridiculous quantities of spirits and is offended if I don't join him! 😬 BUt now I feel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul McKenzie Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Here's the story: http://www.edie.net/gf.cfm?L=left_frame.html&R=http://www.edie.net/news/Archive/6686.cfm Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 The Young's Modulus of Magnesium and alloys is around 45 GPa which is about 60% of Aluminium. The Young's Modulus of Aluminium is around 50% of Cast Iron so a Mag block will tend to be quite flexible in comparison. Mag alloys are used in quite a few high performance bike engines so it should be possible to deal with the relatively low rigidity of mag castings but it isn't as simple as changing on material for another. I would worry a little about fire. It is unlikley that the engine will ever overheat to such an extent as to cause a fire but a good petrol fire could get hot enough. I remeber a dreadful fire when a Techno F1 car with cast magnesium bulkheads caught fire, and couldn't be put out. Aluminium will burn as well but it takes temperatures of around 2000deg C to set it alight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjwb Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 I thought that this was interesting, here bearing in mind that many of the pre-war motorcycles and racing cars had 'elektron' parts. Steve B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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