A little spare time to think. Remembering my Chevy Vega..
in [Toyota]
|
From: hls on 1 Oct 2009 19:15 "dsi1" <dsi1(a)humuhumunukunukuapuapa.org> wrote in message > > I assume that you'd need special cutters to rebore the cylinder walls > and perhaps a lot of shops didn't understand the wall finishing process. > > Oh well, my guess is that the time for sleeveless alloy blocks in cars > has come and gone. It's likely that soon we won't be using pistons and > cylinders. You are right... Only the Sunnen hone treatment could hope to return one of those shitty engine cylinders to hopefully useable conditions. They burnished the aluminum away from the granules of silicon (simply put) in the original process. Sleeving may have worked.. I dont know. These were truly putzes of an engine. Mercedes Benz currently uses aluminum alloys that are somewhat similar. These blocks can only be machined in a few places in the USA (and the only one I know of is on the West Coast). Last count, it cost $3500 to machine and refinish a Mercedes block of this type.
From: Nate Nagel on 1 Oct 2009 19:15 hls wrote: > > "dsi1" <dsi1(a)humuhumunukunukuapuapa.org> wrote in message >> >> I assume that you'd need special cutters to rebore the cylinder walls >> and perhaps a lot of shops didn't understand the wall finishing process. >> >> Oh well, my guess is that the time for sleeveless alloy blocks in cars >> has come and gone. It's likely that soon we won't be using pistons and >> cylinders. > > You are right... Only the Sunnen hone treatment could hope to return > one of those shitty engine cylinders to hopefully useable conditions. They > burnished the aluminum away from the granules of silicon (simply put) > in the original process. Sleeving may have worked.. I dont know. > > These were truly putzes of an engine. > > Mercedes Benz currently uses aluminum alloys that are somewhat similar. > > These blocks can only be machined in a few places in the USA (and the > only one I know of is on the West Coast). Last count, it cost $3500 to > machine and refinish a Mercedes block of this type. > Yes, but Mercedes and BMW engines are far less likely to need such service... nate -- replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply. http://members.cox.net/njnagel
From: hls on 1 Oct 2009 19:23 "Nate Nagel" <njnagel(a)roosters.net> wrote in message news:ha3d9n21u9q(a)news7.newsguy.com... > > Yes, but Mercedes and BMW engines are far less likely to need such > service... > > nate > 1000% right. We had one about a year or so ago. But it is unusual for one of them to fail in this way. I thought all the Vega alloy engines failed, but as I posted early, even the worst manufacturer in the world will occasionally let a good one slip through.
From: Grumpy AuContraire on 2 Oct 2009 00:03 hls wrote: > > "Nate Nagel" <njnagel(a)roosters.net> wrote in message > news:ha3d9n21u9q(a)news7.newsguy.com... > >> >> Yes, but Mercedes and BMW engines are far less likely to need such >> service... >> >> nate >> > 1000% right. We had one about a year or so ago. But it is unusual for > one of them to fail in this way. I thought all the Vega alloy engines > failed, > but as I posted early, even the worst manufacturer in the world will > occasionally let a good one slip through. My neighbor who had extensive experience with Vegas stated that the average life of an engine (from new) was about 75K. Sleeving at that point would make it good for another 200K if the rest of the car held up and did not rust away... JT
From: Otis on 2 Oct 2009 07:59
On Oct 2, 12:03 am, Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy...(a)GrumpyvilleNOT.com> wrote: > hls wrote: > > > "Nate Nagel" <njna...(a)roosters.net> wrote in message > >news:ha3d9n21u9q(a)news7.newsguy.com... > > >> Yes, but Mercedes and BMW engines are far less likely to need such > >> service... > > >> nate > > > 1000% right. We had one about a year or so ago. But it is unusual for > > one of them to fail in this way. I thought all the Vega alloy engines > > failed, > > but as I posted early, even the worst manufacturer in the world will > > occasionally let a good one slip through. > > My neighbor who had extensive experience with Vegas stated that the > average life of an engine (from new) was about 75K. Sleeving at that > point would make it good for another 200K if the rest of the car held up > and did not rust away... Never saw any sign of rust on mine, but I did live in GA. Average engine life about 75k? What was the average life of most engines of the era? I can remember cars back then with 50k that looked like they were about ready for the junk pile. A lot of it has to do with the owners. I smile when I remember back in 1990 when I bought a new Mazda. I overheard a dimwitted neighbor tell another neighbor that Mazdas were junk and broke down all the time. I still have the car and it still runs as well as my '09 Honda, no shimmy either. Also, IIRC the Vega I had was only about $2K, maybe a little more. That's less than $10K in 2008 dollars. |