legacycentral bbs

Engine, six parts or 4 parts

I voted 4 parts.

Typically, what I see is the cylindar walls being part of the "block" when an engine's components are being discussed. Only in extreme hardcore swaps and build-ups do I even hear the walls come up.

I would think only the manufacturer would consider the cyl walls seperate as for us they're cast in. I doubt you could order them seperately.

Steve

It was a brain fart on my end. I couldnt remember if the cylinder walls sperated from the block. What car am I thinking of???

Columbo-designed Ferrari V12s with the screw in liners?

Steve

I remember working on an engine where everything between the head and the bottom of the engine came out as one part.
Cylinder walls wasnt a good explanation

Some old Bugatti engines had block and heads together and the con rods were one piece. The crank was in multiple parts - that's what happens when an artist engineers stuff. Then again, maybe there would be come sort of advantage to that with it being a I8 and having such a long crank... I don't know.

Steve

it'd help for shipping.

it'd help for shipping.

Maybe that's why he didn't use gaskets either. He claimed it was so well machined that it needed no gaskets even though they leak everywhere. Maybe the real reason was to save on shipping... Oh yeah, this is the Type 35 engine I'm talking about.

Steve

Maybe Im mixing two memories, one I saw in a picture and another of an engine I saw apart in person?

Its not all that uncommon for cranks to be made in more than one piece although admittedly far more uncomon nowadays due mainly to material improvements and machining improvements (imagine the deflection of a straight eight crank made of crap quality cast iron, or whatever he would have used, when trying to turn and grind it). The other main reason is to allow the use of needle roller bearings instead of plain bearings although this is much more common in bikes. As much as I hate to say it the probable real reason is because the peeps who design engines these days see a 1 piece crank as the cheapest option, wheras it may not always be the best.
As to the one piece bores and head i would imagine that the engine had vertical valve ports (or some other arrangement that meant they would be accesable to be machined) and therefore wouldnt really need to have a seperate head for machining the valve seats so why not just do it in one?
Oh and wether its a 2 piece or 3 piece engine, youd probably normally term them more as the short block and the head anyway lol.
Quite a lot of bike engines come in 3 parts as well and a few modern car engines (the rover k series being one and instead of plain head bolts they go right thru to the crankcase).