Quote:
Originally Posted by mlh
Bill thanks for asking. I’ve been in the Machine shop business for almost 40 years so I’m always curious about anything Machine shop and a friend has sold machine tools and tooling to rebuild auto engines for 40 years. CGI has been around since the 40s but hasn’t been used to make production engines but for a a few years. The trouble with using it for a large number of engines was we didn’t have cutting tools that would hold up. The cutter would be wore out in a single cylinder and need to be changed. With new cutting tools that is no longer the problem it was. CGI was used for limited production engines for a long time because it is much harder than cast iron. Wore much longer dampened vibrations much better and as an added benefit can be cast thinner to reduce weight. A CGI block can be almost as light as an aluminum block and stronger than a cast iron block.
Ford uses it for their 2.7 Ecoboost and their 6.7 Diesel. Cummings uses it for their 3 L Diesel used in the Ram 1/2 ton. Either Peterbuilt or Kenworth uses it in their latest engine. Audi used it in their prototype racing Diesel engine and won almost every race it ran in.
So why don’t everybody name their blocks CGI. The machinery can’t be switched from cast iron to CGI. The boring heads can’t be retro fit to old machines because the boring head spins and the cutting tools are round and they spin on the boring head. This is what I’ve been told. This is all a little out of my league, let’s say millions of dollars out of my league. One of the boring heads are worth more than any machine in my shop.
Lynwood
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We are well into the middle of a rick of wood for this campfire conversation! Past the popcorn and into another six pack of beer I suspect by now eh?
Ok my question would be what happens if you need an engine rebuild (not that I keep my trucks that long)? If it takes highly specialized machine tools are you into buying a short block every time you have a scored cylinder? It certainly doesn't sound like very many machine shops are going to be able to rebuild these new style blocks and they are going to cost a fortune to rebuild?
Don't get me wrong, technological improvements make the world go around and certainly newer trucks can be driven a lot more miles than they could 50 years ago.
And from what you have said it sounds like Ford is not the only game in town of this technology? When it comes to diesels I trust the Cummins brand more than most others and that is the only reason I went with Ram.