We're working on casting an entire block for a vehicle out of cast iron rather then cast aluminum. Does anyone have any good links or info to foundry's in our out of the states that can handle something like that? Also what kind of set-up fees are we looking at for an entire block.

 

A one-off casting of a block would be... a lot of money. I don't know if any foundries can even do that anymore... Most iron engines are cast in Mexico or overseas.

Just a thought, though.... If you want an iron block Honda, have you considered the old A-series engines? Like from an 86-89 Accord?

 

you can bank account will have to be large and incharge if you want a custom cast block. It would have to be done with an investment casting is my guess and talk about the some machine time to clean itup once its done I would guess in 10k+ range

 

Investment casting= one time casting and original pattern is destroyed after the casting is done. Just for people who don't know what it is. I can't imagine how much it would cost to have that done.

 

I'd look to a billet alum block before a cast iron block....

 

Yah but thats even more money. lol.

 

We were looking at how just to have a block sleeved, you're looking at an easy 2500$ (for 6 cylinder applications) And not only that but these sleeves for this specific motor have a tendency to sink. The best solution would to have a new block cast, and eliminate the open deck design.

It doesn't necessairly have to be cast iron, but something that's durable enough to withstand enough abuse to hold 1000+ WHP.

I know it's probably going to be insanely expensive for the tooling fee, so if anyone has any better recommendations besides cast iron, and maybe a few places to call around and see what kind of tooling price / minimum order we're looking at. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thx guys

 

to help with tooling cost if it was designed in solidwork or similar program and have it rapid prototyped on a sls or similar machine if it had an envelope even large enough to do the block in one piece. like I said before its expensive

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jaydmcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Investment casting= one time casting and original pattern is destroyed after the casting is done. Just for people who don't know what it is. I can't imagine how much it would cost to have that done. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't mean to stray from the topic but I have a question about this. My COBB uppipe in my WRX is an investment cast piece that is a production piece and not a one off. Does this mean that the company that does the investment casting just has a ton of patterns? Just curious.

 

its possible your downpie was cast in sand for high production runs using a mold

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Howitt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its possible your downpie was cast in sand for high production runs using a mold</TD></TR></TABLE>

Who's downpipe?

The stock WRX downpipe isn't cast. The COBB downpipe has an investment cast bellmouth welded to a piece of pre-bent stainless.