You can do what ever you want, but I don't see 3-s and 4-s being that rare that one would need to start from scratch to build one. Now, hogging one out to get 92 jugs in it, might be a better plan. LOL

 

If it were for weight savings, then a billet of aluminum would be the worth machining if I had something like that laying around. Or if there was a market for building a 1000 them, but a one off, with research, tooling, setup adds up. Though it would be nice reverse engineering one into CAD to be able to add on transmission, accessory, blower specs for layout purposes. Sometimes the tape measure will only go so far when your trying to measure something bulky

 

I could imagine the cost of a cube of aluminum would cost more than the weight savings would be worth. The 353 and 6v53 already have the aluminum blocks available but no 453 aluminum blocks were ever cast.

 

I have access to CNC, milling machines and plasma cutters at work... so I can mostly do just about anything there.

Having 3D drawings of these engines is important to maintaining them in the future. I was thinking of making a 1-53 initially, so cost wouldn't be too bad if I could source the metal (and cast it myself from a 3d printed version of the block then mill it for the surfaces that require precision) That way I don't have to buy 3x the needed weight of aluminum as well...

 

Casting a one off piece will likely be big money as well. Foundries don't cast parts for fun. All the R&D and time that will be vested in a project of this caliber will likely exceed 10K in funds. Not to mention the whole testing process. First you need a 1-53 so at least you have the internals and covers to work with. Figure more $$$. Testing the project? Dyno testing? Just for a few lbs saved off of the block? Is your time really worth the reward? No matter how good things turn out it will never be as strong as a tried and true iron block which are a dime a dozen. There also is such a small market for arftermarket Detroit blocks that if one were trying to market these blocks there will be a hugely negative return. Hence why it has been talked about but never been done. If you are foolish enough to take this headache on (I am also a CNC mechanic with machining exerience) just go for the gold and build a 453 aluminum block if it works there would be a very small market for those at least. No one needs a aluminum 1-53. This sounds like a pipe dream.

On a side note if you were to go down this road you need to purchase a gama goat block to see what Detroit did differently on the aluminum blocks.

 

I am well aware of what things cost when going the mass production route and what materials cost. 100-200Lb of aluminum to make a 1-53 block isn't that expensive especially if you melt down waste aluminium from other things, and no I don't mean soda cans! Of course no one *needs* a 1-53 block... unless they are beta testing thier skills and don't want to "go for broke" all at once lol!

Also probably not as good as a professionally forged block but probably good enough... if not running the engine with a turbo especially considering we are talking about 1950's tech here.

Also, Yeah I figured that might be the case with the gamma goat engines... although they had reliability issues apparently and were often switched out for iron blocks.

 

Also probably not as good as a professionally forged block but probably good enough...

I want to see one of those professionally forged cast iron or aluminum blocks.

 

What about a 5-53? or a 4v53? :idea:

 

So what kind of CNC do you have access to and do you have programming knowledge? You are likely going to need a HBM and a VMC with a good work envelope.

 

5-53 would be a good idea.

 

I don't know much about CAD , machining or metallurgy but I would be very interested in an aluminum head for the 3 and 4-53.

 

Or how about some "Engine Brakes"?

 

Inline 6-53T... total cummins killer haha

 

If you're serious you need to purchase at smallest a running 253. Then you can disassemble and use all the stock crank / parts etc to verify your new engine block is any good. a 1-53 will be useless unless you're making a one-off crank etc also.

 

Well, I came across a gama goat engine locally, heard it fire but not run (wasn't hooked up to fuel), its a bit crusty but should clean up well. Also came with the goat radiator, bellhousing and SM420 transmission which I will probably replace with a ranger + sm465 or possibly a world class T5 or T56. I intend to put it in a K5 or M1009.

Also I think all the accessories are there as well... the starter has been monkeyed with though so it's the first thing to fix. Also I'll have to post pics if under the valve cover it has been sitting outside for awhile and was used as sawmill powerplant so is not the cleanest under there either.

 

What about crank and camshaft, etc?

Ed

 

I am pretty sure Tom Shafer had a one off copy of a stock crank made... but I guess there aren't any drawings of any of this stuff yet,

 

this is just my opinion, and it is purely opinion. if i was going to one off a detroit i would apply some good ol euro tech. shorter stroke like in an audi 5 cyl and really put the rpms to it. increase the blower drive and max out the turbo. wonder what a 4-53 spinning at 5k would sound like?

 

Well the problem with a shorter stroke is less power per stroke... which is the whole reason people build stroker gas engines.

That said a modern redesign of the engine might be able to eek out those extra RPMs anyway... supposedly Shaffer's Aluminum 3-53 engine will spin at 5k but that sacrifices crosshead pistons for trunk pistons that can handle the higher RPMs with however reduced longevity. I wonder if it would be possible to design a piston that had the longevity of the crosshead with the strength/durability of the trunk piston.

As far as improvments to the engine... I personally am interested in electronic injection ala Evinrude E-Tec and Freevalve exhaust vales..... which might even obviate the need for jake brakes since they are fully variable without a cam. It would cut a few inches off the height of the engine as well... since there wouldn't be any rockers.