Billet Aluminium Engine Block & Heads

[Lukas 33]

They do RB30 blocks too 11k is a little steep though.

[PM-R33]

Do we have evidence that they are $11,000 or is this guy just pulling our leg?

[zebra]

mmm 11k for a bare block. then add 4k for a billet crank to make it worth while....so 15k + pistons and rods...and you are still left with a standard head, and most likley the OEM RB oil pump problems unless you go dry sump so add another 5k minium.

Lots of coin to save 20-30 kgs

[bigmikespec]

$11k sounds like a fair price, it would be at least $3-4k for material and maybe 60-70 hours on a CNC machine at $80/hr.

[Swiper the Fox]

$11k sounds like a fair price, it would be at least $3-4k for material and maybe 60-70 hours on a CNC machine at $80/hr.

you could go through a lot of $300 05U's till it started to be worth the $$.

but as i said before some guys who have money to spend will do just that.

[unique1]

its not that much, i paid 4k for an n1 block a few years ago. These are more for balancing out the cars front end weight problem more than anything. I'd love to see the weight of one though. Im pretty sure the stocker weighs 54kg from memory. Ill find out what a billet v8 block weighs for a rough idea as someone i know has one is his drag funny car.

[my_gtr32]

That's what I was thinking. The main reason for using this block is the strength and the weight advanage. Gtr's are very front heavy with the 4WD bits not helping. If you were building a race engine with a big buget, this block would be the way to go.

Does anyone know a car running one of these engine blocks?

its not that much, i paid 4k for an n1 block a few years ago. These are more for balancing out the cars front end weight problem more than anything. I'd love to see the weight of one though. Im pretty sure the stocker weighs 54kg from memory. Ill find out what a billet v8 block weighs for a rough idea as someone i know has one is his drag funny car.

[PM-R33]

Nowadays you can pick up a brand new N1 block for under $3000 so the price difference is still quite substantial. But like you have said, the weight difference is the main advantage, how much the weight difference is, is still unclear. With the light weight block, light weight crank and light internals you could definetely get a lot of the weight from out the front. As i said earlier 20-30kg would be great but if a RB block is 54kg, than that 30kg might be pushing it.

Whether this is all worth the coin i suppose is up to the companies running these cars.

Edited January 31, 2010 by PM-R33

[T-Rex]

I emailed the company thats where the $11,000 figure came from, email them yourself if your unsure. Also the crap i was dribbling was caused by a bottle of jim beam that found its way into my mouth lol.

I have been told that an LS1 (alloy) V8 bare block weighs around 42kg. A bare WRX block can easily be carried around by one person (probably 25-35kg). I think you could expect a 15-20kg weight saving using an alloy block. Plus a whole lot stronger!

[unique1]

the added bonus is the liners, they are easy to replace so if you happen to smash a piston or score the bore just rip the liner out and throw a new one in and off you go. The drag guys do the liners and it saves throwing away blocks left right and centre if things go wrong. As long as you dont punch rods through the side of the block its gonna last a very long time.

[2rismo]

the added bonus is the liners, they are easy to replace so if you happen to smash a piston or score the bore just rip the liner out and throw a new one in and off you go. The drag guys do the liners and it saves throwing away blocks left right and centre if things go wrong. As long as you dont punch rods through the side of the block its gonna last a very long time.

Even if you do rod the block you can fix it. That's another big advantage.

[PM-R33]

I have been told that an LS1 (alloy) V8 bare block weighs around 42kg. A bare WRX block can easily be carried around by one person (probably 25-35kg). I think you could expect a 15-20kg weight saving using an alloy block. Plus a whole lot stronger!

Hmm that LS1 block is a lot heavier than i thought considering an entire LS1 is around 50kg lighter than an RB25.

[T-Rex]

Hmm that LS1 block is a lot heavier than i thought considering an entire LS1 is around 50kg lighter than an RB25.

Apparently a complete LS1 weighs 195kg, although not even the LS1 users have exact weights, they usually just guess.

[proengines]

Being billet I doubt the weight saving would be terribly significant. They look like very nice work but personally I think you could spend 11k on a lot of other things that would improve performance far more. They would be great for a really extreme engine where you might regularly punch holes through them with broken rods etc.. you could just weld it up and put it back in the machine and remachine it.

If it was me I'd stick to the factory block and spend the money on a good crank, oil system, headwork and maybe a gearbox. To me a cast iron block is a real advantage as they're much stiffer.

[cm712]

interesting some 1 find out how much they weigh ?

[T04GTR]

Thoes blocks look like they should be in a show room. I see by their lack of prices these fall into the "if you need to ask" catagory of parts. It would be really neat to see a company like that , that makes engines from raw material make a rb38 or something. I've always thought about how cool it would be if a macinist in his spare time could make a 4L 2 stroke rotax and put it in a car.

not quite 4L (2.8) but 6 cyl 2 stroke in a snow mobile

pipey madness

[N1GTR]

Holy shit.

Pipes!

[GT-RZ]

fairly sure the 20/25 are around 250kg's complete and for the GTR's out there add on another lump of shit for the 4wd you would be pushing up near the 280+kg mark. 25g/box weigh ~ 55kg with oil... 26 more again with the adapter for 4wd...

Makes me sick when i look at some other weights i have listed..

CA18DET without transmission is only 128kg...

SR20 non earlier non vvt 150kg without trans... (later with vvt is ~10kg more)

but they are just four bangers, not that bad?

VG30DET 210kg without trans.

ford small block 220kg without trans.

chevy small block 260kg without trans.

Infact the only engine i have listed that is HEAVIER (and it makes me smile) the old 2JZ which comes in at 340kg WITH Transmission. which is a good 40kg more than a 20/25/26 NON 4wd. GTR's would probably be around the same or more with there added fat.

so if these block are substantially lighter the RB crowd would definently be winners. Not sure why you would bother with the SR20 though considering you already have a light alloy block with sleeves. but.

[PM-R33]

Thanks for that. I thought the RB (non GTR AWD extras) weighed about the 250kg mark without trans.

[proengines]

I sent an RB25/30 to Perth a couple of weeks ago and it just tipped 200kg including a wooden packing crate. That was with exhaust manifold, flywheel and pressure plate.