Cast Iron Scooby Blocks Feasability?

[Jimmy@JSEngineering]

Guys,

I am working with a company in the uk to make some Cast iron Cosworth YB blocks, this got us thinking. If we were to make some Subaru blocks, closed deck, cast iron, with enough material to allow use as 2.0 or 2.5 which were absolutely bombproof would there be much interest? We would offer warranty against defects and they would be priced at £1300 to £1500 pounds?

Jimmy, if this was about when I did my rebuild, I would have snapped your arm off mate!

I know the current trend is for 2.35's but there will always be a market for top quality 2.0 & 2.5 blocks. And knowing your previous work, it will be something very special and at a fantastic cost.

I'm sure you will have some very good interest on this.

Could I dare make a suggestion? If you disagree, I will edit this post and remove this part. What about a discount for the first SES member only that goes for this? As there have been a few recently talking about rebuilds?

Steve

[Jimmy@JSEngineering]

Its something we could definitly look at if the application was right. We havent started modelling it yet so there is a lot of work to do, it is easily a year until we would have the first one in our hands but it will be a proper product for sure.

[SpecB]

Hmm interesting.....

Might be something I'd consider swapping my EJ25 for.... still slightly regretting not going for your build when mine went pop but finances forced me down a cheaper (and lower quality route).

[Hongkongfooi]

there seems to be a short supply of good cdb's at the moment....i will be interested next year if you do have them....enginetuner will be worth contacting for a trader link as they have advertised on scabby net for those blocks before!

[Anger]

I found a Subaru builders up north that said they were about to offer CDB 2.5's yesterday on SN.... im glad i have my spare one sitting in the garage how the prices have started to rise lately

[Jimmy@JSEngineering]

Im sure these blocks are going to be unlike anything else on the market, they are going to be cast iron.

As we are doing the finish machining our selves on an order by order basis it opens up options to do high deck long rod conversions for strokers, any bore size that is desired, or just do stock replacements.

[Anger]

Sounds good to me Jimmy

[DukeBoy]

Originally Posted by Jimmy@JSEngineering

Im sure these blocks are going to be unlike anything else on the market, they are going to be cast iron.

And i thought the Newage was heavy enough as it was

Good luck with them sounds interesting.

[midlife2]

Wont the weight be a disadvantage?

[Scott.T]

You probably know this but FYI, Roger Clarke sell a remanufactured CLose DeckBlock Pair for £880 or a new Closed deck block pair for £3466...ouch !!!!!!

[Jimmy@JSEngineering]

Originally Posted by midlife2

Wont the weight be a disadvantage?

There is no denying that weight will be a disadvantage. Its horses for courses though. If you want an indestructible engine then perhaps a few extra kilos isnt too much of a big deal?

I can only imagine that people running enough horsepower to warrant one of these also has coil overs. If they bring me the car I can corner weight it and get a good balance back into it with ride heights or spring rates.

When we model it we will know exactly what the weight difference is but unless one is building a stripped out race car I don't think it will be too noticeable.

Think on this.....if one puts 60litres of fuel into their car then effectively that's 40 kilos, does one notice the handling difference between a full and empty tank outside of top level motorsport ??? There will not be a 40 kilo increase in engine weight.

[Scott.T]

Originally Posted by Jimmy@JSEngineering

Think on this.....if one puts 60litres of fuel into their car then effectively that's 40 kilos, does one notice the handling difference between a full and empty tank outside of top level motorsport ??? There will not be a 40 kilo increase in engine weight.

LOL...that just about sums up everything I thought about corner weighting for the road.........pub talk.

[Jolly Green Monster]

Surely this would have to be a tested and proven product before anyone would part with money for it?

I don't think it would work.. there are more to it than just making a strong block.

Simon

[Legacydan]

What about heat build up in the cast block? Surely subaru built the boxer out of alloy for a reason?!?!

Yes it will be stronger in a way but no engine is indestructible!!!

[Jimmy@JSEngineering]

Of course no engine is truly indestructible if it simply doesn't work, but the block is one of the big limiting factors on these Subarus as you know and one with a much higher cylinder pressure threshold would be a big help?

You guys are dead right that these things need to be considered, but make no mistake, we do know what we are doing. At the modelling stage we are able to carry out stress analysis, thermodynamic analysis and cfd on the way that the water jacket flows. We will do bench dyno work to prove it before it went on sale the same as we did with the Cosworth blocks.

The guy I'm doing this with is ex Cosworth himself, I have an f1 engine background too, neither of us would risk our reputation by selling something which wasn't fit for purpose.

Interesting feed back though guys, the purpose of this thread is to guage feasability. keep coming forward with your thoughts

I'm no engine builder and just my thought's. In line cast block or an opposed cast block both cdb would there be a big difference with heat? Evo blocks are cast cdb & are a well pr oven block. If i had a Scoob i would give this a shot. Especially as Jimmy's built it.

Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

LOL...that just about sums up everything I thought about corner weighting for the road.........pub talk.

After trying my car out on some familiar roads making adjustments here & there & still not happy. I had Jimmy set it up & PART of that set up was corner weighting it made a HUGE difference. Now weather that was down to Jimmy's track knowledge or the fact the corner weighting is just part of the set up package i don't know. :