Crankcase Joint-Prep and sealing

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bengunnhrd

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Having been involved in the secondary aluminium industry for almost 45 years, i have made my fair share of alloy for castings. The quantum leap between metal made today and pre 1980`s is the electronic spectrograph and flux injection. The one gives you a accurate analysis quickly, the other cleans the metal to a much higher standard which eliminates inclusions and reduces potential porosity. Metal temprature is also more accurate with moden digital pyrometers. Pre 1980`s metal was made to a specification were the only reliable way of testing for the elements was wet analysis which could take days to complete, or carbon rod spark erosion which was measured against a graph which gave irregular readings.
AMAL carbs were made from Mazak, a zinc alloy which has stood the test of time as being the best for that application. A very good friend of mine ran the foundry.
Rolls Royce as far as i can remember had their own foundry producing castings, the quality control would have been much higher than for the normal run of the mill motor indusry.
We were melting new, crated, packed in silica gel RR piston aircraft engines up till 1971.
 
greg brillus

greg brillus

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Hi there Rip, sorry wasn't havin a go....I'm just a big fan of WW 2 machinery, and spent a bit of time working on some of it. You are correct about the P 51 Mustang, without a doubt when they installed the Merlin engine and fine tuned the cooling system, they had created the best all round fighter of WW2 by far. With it's rearward underslung radiator in a low pressure area, not burried in the wings or under them in a high pressure maximum drag area.....Brilliantly designed laminar flow highly efficient wing that modern jets use to this day...this enabling far more endurance than any other fighter had seen, allowing fighters to escort bombers into Germany and back (up to 8 hours total flighing time) and armed with 6 x 50 cal browning machineguns......massive fire power. The V1710 Alison engine in many ways was a far better engine than the Merlin as its construction was stronger whilst externally simpler with less plumbing and so on. It's cams and followers are far better than a Merlins, and it's crank and rods are alot beafier and robust. Unfortunately the US government were more interested in large Radial engine developement, and as such the Alison didn't get the supercharger benefits that Rolls Royce did with the Merlin. Cheers........Greg.
 
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riptragle1953

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Yes, Radials were not if fashion amongst European designers at the time as they thought they added too much drag. But Kurt Wulf taking note of the American designs came up with the Focke-Wulf...... not a plane to mess with!
However, newly known to me was the Italian Macchi C.205 Veltro. Not many made but quite a plane. I just read an account of an Italian pilot who, with four other Veltro's, took on 60 Spitfires..... flown by Greeks I think!
 
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BigEd

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There is some very interesting aircraft information coming out here from you guys who obviously know your aircraft. You seem to have side slipped away from the "Crankcase Joint-Prep and Sealing" topic. It might be useful to start a new thread relating to aircraft /engines.
 
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riptragle1953

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'Tis true..... I am guilty of offtopicness. But, honestly, sometimes an off topic can get real interesting and I learn something..... so it's never bothered me much.
 
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Big Sid

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The crankcase center joint has always been difficult to totally seal because it's subject to a grinding motion due to the flywheel forces and is a vertical joint . Thats why modern motors mostly went with a horizontal joint . Some sealants do better than others , those that stay semi pliable are best while those that dry to a brittle substance soon powder away . Sid .
 
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