Cast vs Billet | MounTune Motorsport Engine Block Design [TECH TALK]

What considerations go into taking a 150HP engine and making it produce 600HP with huge cylinder pressures, reliably?

When you want to double, triple or even octuple an engines output, at some stage you’re going to find the limitations of your factory block and head castings either in dramatic fashion or via constant repairs and rebuilds for ‘minor’ issues. In professional motorsport, either outcome is unacceptable.

David Mountain of MounTune runs Andre though some of the block failures they have seen during their engine development programs where very high cylinder pressures are seen to produce large amounts of low-end torque for World RX competition engines where they are running 4 times the power the engine would produce in factory trim.

Discussed are the bore size, block weight, cylinder bore centers and other design parameters they must work within depending on class regulations, how they get away with the pressures a diesel engine would run in a steel block using aluminium instead, and some of the coatings they use on bore liners and piston rings to make it all work.

David also gives some great insight into cast vs billet block production including some of the advantages when it comes to casting. We also learn how 4 week to 3-month production lead times for modern 3D computer-aided design (CAD) production via software like SolidWorks compares to the 5-6 month days of 2D drawings. Interestingly, even with the use of finite element analysis (FEA) a lot of real-world experience is drawn on to ensure a balance is found between the many, many considerations and tradeoffs that every design tweak carries.

Lastly, we learn how MounTune avoids any issues with cylinder sleeves dropping, why the factory design for head studs is not optimal once you start running higher pressures, Nikasil coating use and how before any tools have been lifted the CAD process can be used to ensure those regulation weight targets are hit along with avoiding any major design flaws. While some of this technology seems like magic that does the work for you, in reality without that real-world experience and knowledge bank to draw on it’s useless. Just like any quality tool, the person in charge needs to know what they’re doing to get the desired results.

#highperformanceacademy #learntotune #mountune #billetvscast #worldrx #blockdesign

[pedrocacao]

Awesome content, thanks Mountune and HPA!

[von...]

dude I am so appreciative that you applied your knowledge and passion into something like this channel and HP Academy. This interview (as well as all your other ones) are absolutely brilliant and filled with information not available outside of a combination of engineering classes plus industry experience.
 
I am a software engineer so these topics don't often fall into something relevant to my career, but you bring the kind of information I would have never been able to learn elsewhere to me and so many others with these videos! Thank you :)

[boosthit]

That was class. Good info on liner installation.

[colinjohnson]

Hate to dogpile on the praise but you’re doing great interviews. Andre is doing all the work here. He’s talking the talk with david and then translating it into people speak quickly. The video is paced well and I don’t feel the need to bump playback to 1.5x-1.75x. Thanks for the content!

[marthamryglod]

This channel has the best interviews for technical knowledge and in-depth motorsport information

[JlerchTampa]

I love that we live in a time where not only is this technically possible, its available to anyone with the skill, time, and money to jump in and give it a go! Awesome Tech!

[NotPoliticallyCorrect]

Great interview again Andre, real people, real knowledge. Quality channel mate 🍻👍🏻

[mugencity]

Awesome stuff. The note about the sleeves being a bit proud makes sense.

[Gkuljian]

It's funny that I love this channel because I sold my Porsche 928 recently, and have no intention of ever buying an internal combustion vehicle again. But this stuff has been so much a part of my life that I still breathe it. And the content overlaps into other areas besides cars, like this video.

[particlewaveduality]

Great discussion. Just about the perfect level of detail without diving into jargon and esoterica that would confuse laymen like me. There's a lot of smart people in the world, but it's a mark of genius to be able to explain complex subjects quickly, using plain language everyone can understand. Well done, mate.

[El_Chompo]

I have learned more about high performance cars on this channel than anywhere

[DavidViny]

Great interview, love the real tech talk.

[flyonbyya]

I didn’t know that castings, in certain applications, still have significant advantages...
As usual...Great Interview!

[simonnorup]

great with all that deep down technical talk. it’s hard to educate yourself about something like that and to finde information and sites to read up on that stuff. A big thanks from 🇩🇰 and keep it coming

[AndyRRR]

Dave is a man who knows his stuff! Great interview!

[anchorbait]

Just found this channel. Really loving these one on one technical talks. Cheers

[ChowderPL]

Great video as always! Its good to hear some design info and I would really like to hear more!

[turnersgarage]

You should go see some hillclimb events if you are in the UK, people there are doing some wonderful things designing blocks to make v8 motorcycle engines and generally pushing the limits of engines.

[rickfinsta]

Fantastic; A great bit of information from a highly experienced professional. Thanks!

[kylej]

You guys kill the content. Love HP Academy 🤙🏻