[Land-speed] high speed engines/tight clearances

[neil at dbelltech.com]

Bryan, Ed;

It's a lot easier to work with liquid nitrogen to cool parts than it is to
heat other parts in an oven.

Regards, Neil   Tucson, AZ

-----Original Message-----
From: land-speed-bounces+neil=dbelltech.com at autox.team.net
[mailto:land-speed-bounces+neil=dbelltech.com at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of
Ed Weldon
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 7:55 AM
To: Bryan Savage
Cc: land-speed-digest
Subject: Re: [Land-speed] high speed engines/tight clearances

Bryan--
Sounds good on paper but I think asking an assembly robot of suitable
envelope size to hold closer than .005 is a bit much.  Build something like
that into a 200-250 degree oven and try to control temperature everywhere
and you've got a million dollar piece of equipment.
I'd opt for sealing the block coolant passageways and circulating
temperature controlled hot water through it, perhaps with the outside
surrounded with lots of insulation.  Another possibility is having the block
upside down when assembling the pistons and filling them with crushed dry
ice and 99% isopropanol to uniformly cool and shrink them to get the
necessary temperature differential.  That way the block could be kept at a
reasonable temperature for humans to work with.  This process would surely
take a lot of practice and fiddling around with temperatures; but once the
mechanics get it right it should be pretty repeatable.  Might require some
interesting assembly lubricants, especially on the pistons and pin fits.
Ed

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bryan Savage" <basavage at wildblue.net>
To: "Ed Weldon" <23.weldon at comcast.net>
Cc: "Benn" <karhu at california.com>; "land-speed-digest"
<land-speed at autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Land-speed] high speed engines/tight clearances
> Assembly should be simple.
> Place all parts in a large oven with a high temperature
> assembly robot.
> Start assembly program.
> Remove assembled engine.
> Install in car.
> Bryan