Engine Block

MTM Lab Assignment

Umar Mustafa Noori 2015-ME-151

 ENGINE BLOCK
“The engine block or cylinder block is an integrated structure comprising the
cylinder(s) of a reciprocating engine and often some or all of their associated
surrounding structures (coolant passages, intake and exhaust passages and ports,
and crankcase).”

The cylinder block is one of your engine's central components. It plays a key role in the
lubrication, temperature control and stability of the engine and it has to be of the highest quality
so there is no room for short cuts. The engine block is vital structure of vehicles which run on
internal combustion, providing the powerhouse for the vehicle. The engine block is termed a
block because it is usually a solid cast, housing the cylinders and their components inside a
cooled and lubricated crankcase .Common components found in an engine include pistons,
camshafts, timing chains, rocker arms, and other various parts. When fully stripped of all
components, the core of the engine can be seen: the cylinder block. The cylinder block
(popularly known as the engine block) is the strongest component of an engine that provides
much of the housing for the hundreds of parts found in a modern engine.

Engine Block Manufacturing:

Manufacturing of engine blocks are mainly done using sand casting, although die casting also
used it is more cost effective as the die wear out easily due to the high temperature of the molten
metal. The casted engine block is then machined to get the surface finish and coolant passages.
Then the water jackets and cylinder molds are arranged in the main mold as a one cube. The
mold is then tightened using clamps to withstand the
pressure of gravity when pouring molten metal.
Now the mold is ready for the casting. The molten
metal is poured in to the mold through the smaller
front center hole which fills the mold from bottom
back up to the top through the risers, which can be
seen as 8 large holes. When the casting is cooling
down the molten metal in the riser is drawn back
down in to the casting. The risers act a main part in
the casting process by supplying required molten metal during shrinkage.
The rough aluminum block casting is shown above after the removal of the sand mold. The sand
is removed by applying vibrations on the casting. The casting has to be machined to get correct
dimensions and smooth surfaces of the engine block.
Traditionally, they were casted of cast iron but nowadays, trends are shifting towards aluminum.
However, cast iron give better resistance to stresses whereas, aluminum is light weight and helps
in improvement of efficiency. Once casted we get a solid block with casted holes for various
parts like pistons, crank-rod etc. but still this solid metal block requires much machining before
they can be used to bear the intense operations occurring in an engine. Machining is done after
X-ray inspection.

Machining Operations
Following are briefly discussed some of machining operations:

Decking:
Decking is a broaching operation. This operation is ensures
the block’s deck surface is both flat and perpendicular to
the crankshaft centerline. Often, this operation is used to
reduce piston deck height. Production small-blocks tend to
come from the production line with between 0.20 and 0.25
inch. A broach is a large slab with several cutting teeth.
Each tooth cuts a little more than the preceding tooth. It is
somewhat like a large, coarse, contoured file. One pass of
broach will smooth both cylinder decks and the lifter valley
cover rail. A second pass will smooth upper main bearing bores and the oil pan rail. The ends of
the block may be finished with a third broach.
Milling:
After it, block is milled on milling machine where its
dimensions are corrected and surface is flattened. Broach
leave linear marks while mill leaves circular marks. Milling
is not only used to remove extra portions and smoothening
but is also used to correct the size of cylinder heads which
plays an important part in determining the compression ratio
of an engine.

Drilling:
There is a need to drill some other holes, although,
casted engine has many holes like holes for pistons,
valves, crank-rod etc. but still. These holes are for
coolant and ventilation etc. Some holes are also drilled
for attachments purposes. These holes are not kept
during the casting and are drilled later according to
requirements.

Boring:
Line boring are sometimes necessary, especially if the
engine has been pushed to its limits. Most often, line boring
is required when fitting the engine with aftermarket steel
four-bolt main cap. The procedure involves measuring the
inside diameter of the main journal bore. Then a long align-
boring tool is used to bore each housing to within a few
thousands of inside diameter. Boring is performed to obtain
the dimensional accuracy of the holes especially casted
holes because exact dimensional accuracy is not achieved in the casting operation.

Honing:
The basic honing process removes the rough
machine marks left by boring bar, smoothing the
cylinder wall while still leaving a sufficient cross-
hatch pattern in the cylinder wall to help lubricating
rings. Even after honing, if magnified, the cylinder
wall will look like a landscape of peak valleys. It’s
the valley that retain the oil. The reamer is inserted
in a hole where it is rotated and ensure roundness of
hole.
Counter Boring:
A tool for resurfacing a counter bore of a cylinder bore in an engine block includes a holder
fixedly attached to the engine block using existing
threaded holes, and a cutter rotatable supported by the
holder and axially movable while being rotated. The
cutter is positioned to cut and resurface a counter bore
in the top of the cylinder bore. Counter-bores provide a
square shoulder so that a cap screw or bolt head may sit
flush or below a surface.

Grinding:
Finally grinding is done on the surface to finish the surface of block. Surface grinding also
provides the engine block with the required finish and remove any machining marks left on the
flat contours of engine block.
FIXTURE FOR MILLING