Originally posted by gricerboy
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"Where to begin, having built a number of these over the years.......
Damned expensive, and I mean expensive. when I left the 42K's that we were building for the Indian navy were over a £1M each, thats in 1984.
The 59ks were cheaper, but far less powerfull.
Very very light, but hugely complex, specific fuel consumption was an issue, we could never get them as good on juice as a simple four stroke, say like the RP200 either 12 or 18cyl versions.
Very labour intensive to build, 1000's of man hours each, the complexity of assembly with large ovens for the crankcases, and small vats of liquid nitrogen were a hoot,(dropping large bearings into the cases etc) the knife edge seals could be daunting if the fit and finish were not 100%, so oil would leak internally and not supply the bearings properly.
Hylomar everwhere, so the face finish of any matting edges was critical.
Big torque wrench and multiplier were the order of the day. the cyl liners were 1000ft/lbs.
But they are a flipping great engine, and I miss working on them."
Damned expensive, and I mean expensive. when I left the 42K's that we were building for the Indian navy were over a £1M each, thats in 1984.
The 59ks were cheaper, but far less powerfull.
Very very light, but hugely complex, specific fuel consumption was an issue, we could never get them as good on juice as a simple four stroke, say like the RP200 either 12 or 18cyl versions.
Very labour intensive to build, 1000's of man hours each, the complexity of assembly with large ovens for the crankcases, and small vats of liquid nitrogen were a hoot,(dropping large bearings into the cases etc) the knife edge seals could be daunting if the fit and finish were not 100%, so oil would leak internally and not supply the bearings properly.
Hylomar everwhere, so the face finish of any matting edges was critical.
Big torque wrench and multiplier were the order of the day. the cyl liners were 1000ft/lbs.
But they are a flipping great engine, and I miss working on them."
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