guys ans gals ,can somebody add to my limited knowledge of the purposes of bolck filler or filling a block for a race engine. What are the plus and minuses of this ? , does this make the block stronger? Is there over heating problems with this ? Can a engine with block filler be driven on the street or is this for a strickly racercar purpose? Inquiring mind wants to know.
Putting all that cement in the engine block makes the front end heavier and keeps the front planted, for better takeoffs... ...nope, I don't know
Its purpose is to strengthen the block around the cyl bores.It also does partially or fully fill the water jackets in the block.This does cause a temp increase,I have mostly seen it done on alcohol race engines since they tend to run cooler due to the lower BTU rating of alcohol it isnt a big issue.I have seen gas engines this way too but cant tell you first hand if it adversely affects cooling ability.I would say it does simply by virtue of where its put in the block.
It strengthens the block around the cylinders. From what I've seen at the track it tends to overheat quicker. If I know you are running this at the track, on gasoline, believe me I'll be taking my time to stage perfectly. I've seen this mostly on the NHRA stock and super stock cars.
They sell full fill and half fill buckets and supposedly you're supposed to be able to get away with the half fill on a street driven car. Gotta be largely dependant on cooling system or lack there of.
now that you have heard from the ..."gays"...(Don Graham,"I speak from experience. ") do the..."gals"...have anything to add... ......
strengthens the block but makes it heavier, makes it run "warm". If you have any decent cooling system, the water temp won't get any higher than normal, BUT the oil temp will. You have to watch oil temps pretty closely. I know on mine, the water temp usually never gets more than 160 unless I let it (first firing of the day and the end of the day, I will run it up to 210-220) but oil temps will get up there. I've seen 240 a few times hotlapping. Again, this is an alcohol engine. The Mustang when it was on gas, it ran hot all the time even with a 3 row aluminum radiator. Worse in the summer time obviously. another good thing about using grout is that when you break a rod, crank, etc and knocks out the bottom of the block or cylinder wall, it won't lose any water.
If you plan on running the car on the street, I'd advise against it. Because of the increased temps. If it's for drag racing only, then no problems, unless you do a few hot laps. i know you dont care about "my" knowledge, so this is my "what do you guys think".... Besides, the "Boss block" you said you have, will be fine to leave since it has extra material around the cylinder bores anyway.
72MAVGRABHER, i do care about your knowledge ,and to stop this ,if i offended you in the past ,I AM SORRY and this apology is sincere :Handshake.To let you in on a few things ,,yes ,im builing the 347 Boss engine ,but im aslo buying a new none Boss 347 500 hp crate engine and also another used but rebuilt 347 race engine ,the one thats been block filled ,so in the next month ill have three new engines ,remember i have four mavericks ,soon to be 6. I will start to post pics of things im doing when this calendar project gets done.
Two will be worthy to compete(after there winter restoration) maybe three ,with any of the top guns from this forum for next years 2010 calendar . My dad has deceided to come out of retirement ( he was a auto bodyman and painter for 35 years ,he retired at 60)to restore my mavericks only for a very resonable hourly wage,he will do body work and paint for 25.00 hr in my shop wich is alot better than restoration shop rates here in Canada.
...this calender project done yet... maybe you should have put the engine pics. in the calender... ......
