Vauxhall Aluminium Block

[gordon wilson]

Does anyone have any experience of the aluminium product offered by QED in its linered/ceramic form?

[EFA]

I think Graham (Chelspeed) is the only person to try this. Needless to say he reverted to an iron block.

 

I don't know of anybody who has tried the alloy block in a road car....

 

I do however know that a call to Dave Kimberley at Demon Tweeks may get you a secondhand one if you are interested.....

 

Arnie Webb

The Fat Bloke blush.gif in a not so Slow Vauxhall wink.gif

[Mike Bees]

There are quite a few competition cars running ali-block QED Vxs, so they can be made to work.

 

Mike

[stevefoster]

Roger K does them doesn't he. Care to comment Roger?

An ali block might go some way to stopping all this "VX is heavy whinging" that goes on.

[Chelspeed]

Yep I ran one 4 times on the dyno and never got it running for more than an hour before seizing. Ending up costing me a fortune in pistons, dyno and rebuild costs plus a whole year with no car. Not impressed. QED are still trying to find out whether my block was a rogue one with porosity problems or what.

 

In my view the block is a too close copy of the iron block with insufficient attention paid to the different thermal expansion and conductivity characteristics of cast iron and aluminium.

 

The competition cars running this block all seem to be sprint and hillclimb cars which run for a minute or so max. The (very few) road cars running this block all seem to be in low states of tune, 235bhp or so.

 

Don't risk it.

[Roger King]

Hi Steve,

 

No, I don't do the aluminium block for the Vauxhall. We've never tried one, so I can't comment either way.

 

The only observation that I can make is the general one that major changes to any engine have a history of problems. Unfortunately, every now and then something comes along that is genuinely good, such as the aluminium block that was used on more exotic versions of the BDA. This means that you can't automatically dismiss innovations - so how to sort the wheat from the chaff?

 

1)Wait until someone with a much bigger budget than you has tried it first.

 

2)Look at the background of the developer of the product. Do they have a track record and is it good or bad? Some names crop up again and again in connection with projects that never quite fulfill their promise.

 

3)Talk to the vendor. I much prefer to trust someone who will answer your questions honestly and not simply assure you that everything is fine. In my experience, an engineer who will admit to not knowing the answer to a question is usually more competent than one who seems to know everything. He is also more likely to produce a good product.

 

[StewartG]

Whilst generally agreeing with the above Roger this case would seem to be an exeption because as far as I know QED have a good reputation, it's just this alloy block that looks like a bridge too far.

[Nick M]

Who makes the alloy block for QED ? Is it the same as the one used by Graham, i.e. of Jenvey origin ?

[EFA]

Yes, they are all made by Jenvey.

 

The BDR block Roger refers to was made by Quaife

 

Arnie Webb

The Fat Bloke blush.gif in a not so Slow Vauxhall wink.gif

[Paul Ranson]

I thought the original alloy BD was a Brian Hart innovation? IIRC the RS1800 road cars had alloy block 1800cc single carb versions.

 

Many of the competition cars running QED alloy blocks run on methanol. This may be significant. I also hear that a couple of 315BHP spec engines popped on the dyno back in January/February.

 

I have some doubts about the actual weight saving from the Vauxhall alloy block, the claim is 19kg, but I don't see how the bare iron block can weigh much more than that. Does anybody have any figures?My iron Vauxhall is 108kg with flywheel/starter/clutch/throttle bodies/air filter/spark plugs etc.

 

Paul

[stevefoster]

Sorry. Mixed my ali BDA and VX's up. The half page add in LF is from QED.

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Richard Kerbole has been running an Alloy Vx for some time now and I think he does quite a few track days (ie extended runs). I haven't heard that his ever seized (but then again, I've only met him once!)

 

Alex

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 24 Mar 2001 22:05:53

[Roger King]

Paul,

 

Yes the original aluminium BDA block was by Brian Hart. I used to work for him in the 70s, building the Escort rally engines. Those blocks were chrome plated directly onto the aluminium to provide the bore running surface. It was a very expensive thing to do and used to take an age to hone to correct size too; mind you, you never saw any bore wear!

 

Later types of aluminium block generally use liners instead.

 

Edited by - roger king on 26 Mar 2001 10:04:20

[Chelspeed]

Paul doubted the weight saving.

 

That's one thing I can verify. I weighed the alloy block before I started. The alloy block from memory weighed around 20kg and the iron block around 40kg, I forget the exact numbers but the saving was in excess of 19kg, more like 20kg.

 

You hold an iron block with 2 hands and walk carefully, you can pick the alloy block up with one hand easily and just wander round with it.

 

Big difference, but if it doesn't work then it's academic.