| The geometry of the block would have to be redesigned to be manufactured from a different material. You can't just take a cast iron block design and cast it from AL then call it a day. There are more factors to consider than just having it manufactured. Contracting out the engineering work would blow the budget. Even scanning and digitizing the entire engine block would be difficult. You would have to selectively resize portions of the original block to account for a different shrink rates AL/cast iron. Conduct a stress analysis on the block to see if high stress areas need to be beefed up due to a weaker material. Al is 1/3 the stiffness of steel so you would have consider the rigidity of the block and how that impacts the tolerances of the rotating assembly. Redesign the entire mold aside from the block geometry to flow correctly and produce a good part. These are all the issues I see and I don't even design engines. All this to simply save weight in an already heavy car for about the price of said car? Sounds like a waste of time and money to me.
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Work on your own car, and don't half ass it. |
