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Check this out. These men are going through the tedious process of making a sand cast – aluminum 1937 Ford Sedan engine block. Try to listen to them talk as you watch. Although the process of making a cast aluminum engine block, cylinder heads or anything that is cast aluminum is more streamlined and efficient, the method has not changed. As a matter of fact, aluminum engine blocks are becoming more popular in modern cars due to the amount of weight difference. Less weight means better fuel mileage. And gas cost like 10 cents a gallon in 1937 when this Ford engine was first produced.

Watch:

Fascinating. You can see the molten aluminum, which is pored into the sand mold, which catches fire temporarily as the impurities burn out of the metal and mold. The process has been modernized and is done on an assembly line nowadays. Yet the same methods of making molds out of sand and melting raw aluminum into a pore-able liquid and poring it into the mold has not changed.

Sand-casting is a non finished part though, it is the very beginning. After it has been allowed to cool properly it then has to go through a variety of machining processes as it evolves into a finished engine block or cylinder head for that matter, and ready for assembly.

As mentioned above, since aluminum is lighter than cast iron, it has become popular and is squeezing out cast iron as the choice of engine blocks in the majority of cars and ”light duty” trucks. Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company has been sand casting their engine blocks-cases or 95% of them out of aluminum since 1908. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I’m a big fan of light weight parts. Before it became fashionable to build cars weighing less, I found out when i was about 8 years old my go-carts went faster that when I lightened them up, it stopped better and cornered better too. I skillfully make an art fo lighten everything up to this day with light weight parts. The process of lightening a car is called removing unsprung weight.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson on cast aluminum parts. All cast aluminum parts are made the same way, don’t mistake cast parts for forged or billet aluminum parts. Forged and billet aluminum parts serve a different purpose and are a story in themselves.

To learn more about engines of all sorts read more of our Blog, if you have any engine questions, especially about replacement engines, Call GotEngines.com @ 1-877-268-0664.