In this article I will take a closer look at the specifics of the liner flange design and what one should take into consideration, with the goal of trying not to crack it. In principle, cylinder liner design does not look too difficult. It is more or less a machined cylindrical component, often with a flange somewhere of somewhat bigger diameter to keep the liner at its correct height. But on closer inspection there are a lot of things that might lead to distortions of either the liner...
A year ago, the topic of discussion in the corresponding article to this one was how Formula One engineers might compensate for no longer being allowed to ‘blow the floor’ with exhaust gas. In 2011, much of the technical discussion, as far as exhausts were concerned, centred on the use of the energy in the exhaust gas flows to create extra downforce. ‘Hot blowing’ and ‘cold blowing’ were bywords in a season that culminated in a rule change being agreed...
The vast majority of my articles on the subject of fasteners have been specifically on the threaded types. They fulfil a critical role in any engine, and require a degree of understanding and some calculation to work successfully. There are many other fasteners used in a typical race engine, however, that are not so demanding of the engineer. One such fastener that is used widely is the circlip. In this article though we are not going to deal with round wire circlips, as commonly used for...
Trying to pick up that last drop of fuel out of the tank is a challenge, especially if the car is developing high g-forces while cornering or under acceleration. However, ensuring complete evacuation of the fuel tank just as the race is finishing not only gives the race engineer a sense of satisfaction but minimises the start weight of the car, giving the equivalent of just that little bit extra engine performance. In a sense therefore, fuel that can’t be picked up out of the tank is...
The design of a modern intake manifold is a relatively straightforward affair. Ensuring that the positive pressure waves reverberating up and down the intake runner arrive just at the same time as the inlet valve is closing sounds simple enough, and given the constraints of a single-cylinder engine at a fixed rotational speed, so it is. However, add the complexities of a multi-cylinder arrangement at a wide range of engine speeds, feeding through a single throttle plate, and the degree of...