Wooden Engine

[FesterNath]

All this talk of being environmentally friendly has got me thinking, and I am now going to built a wooden engine. It's going to be really good as it will be lightweight, biodegradable and easy to machine. It'll also look nice, especially in something like a Morgan, which happens to be made of wood itself to a large extent. I think I will use a hard-wood of some sort so it can withstand high BMEPs. I will also use yacht varnish to seal it and stop it from rotting in this harsh, British climate. Anyone got any suggestions on anything which may come in handy?

[stainless_steve]

a match

[GreenV8S]

You are bonkers! Would you use wooden cam followers, or stick with the TVR chocolate ones?

[Martin_S]

I have heard of pistons being carved from hardwood to keep engines running in some 3rd world countries, believe it or not...apparently, once the crown of the piston has charred it acts as an insulator, which prevents the rest of the piston burning up.

[dilbert]

I don't think it's that bonkers.
I'm not sure that it's possible though.
You could try plastic.

>> Edited by dilbert on Friday 11th February 23:45

[philbob]

GreenV8S said:

You are bonkers! Would you use wooden cam followers, or stick with the TVR chocolate ones?

[rev-erend]

Too late - I've already tried this one ..

It wooden go

[GreenV8S]

rev-erend said:

It wooden go

:snigger:

[GreenV8S]

How would you go about making it?

Presumably you'd aim for very low stress so low revs, dimensional stability would be a nightmare so you can forget about tolerances, how much could you realistically make from wood and still have a working engine? Would be amazing to see if anyone managed it. Still think you'd have to be bonkers to try though!

[Pies]

The sparks plugs could be intresting,i mean getting the timing of rubbing two sticks to reach ignition temp at the correct time will be a challange

[Alpineandy]

Martin_S said:

I have heard of pistons being carved from hardwood to keep engines running in some 3rd world countries, believe it or not...apparently, once the crown of the piston has charred it acts as an insulator, which prevents the rest of the piston burning up.

I've heard of this too, but only as a temporary measure. It can't survive for long. and the oil soaking into it from below would cause problems before long.

[matt_t16]

Alpineandy said:

Martin_S said: I have heard of pistons being carved from hardwood to keep engines running in some 3rd world countries, believe it or not...apparently, once the crown of the piston has charred it acts as an insulator, which prevents the rest of the piston burning up. I've heard of this too, but only as a temporary measure. It can't survive for long. and the oil soaking into it from below would cause problems before long.

Depends what wood was used. Lignum Vitae for example may well last for a considerable amount of time.

[lanciachris]

Ill reuse this classic from another occasion..

youre barking!

[joospeed]

A "plastic"ish engine has already been done by polymotor in the late 80s early 90s. never caught on tho ..

wooden engine sounds possible, could always just make the high temp / stress areas with steel liners etc and use wodd for the bulk of the block and piston internals .. temp resist coatings .. don't know why you'd want to but hey I've done lots of stuff other peole could never see the point in!! go for it if you're serious .. then see if you can branch out into other areas ..

[kevinday]

Welcome back, Chassis!

[chuntington101]

carbon fober or a polymer block/heads i could see (with steel/ally of some sort liners). and a sump would be easy, esspecialy on something like a Busa where only the top half takes the load. i mena BAR where running a carbon fiber 'box last year and who would have though that was possable 10 years a go?

thanks Chris.

[ph'er(zzr1200)]

joospeed said:

A "plastic"ish engine has already been done by polymotor in the late 80s early 90s. never caught on tho .. wooden engine sounds possible, could always just make the high temp / stress areas with steel liners etc and use wodd for the bulk of the block and piston internals .. temp resist coatings .. don't know why you'd want to but hey I've done lots of stuff other peole could never see the point in!! go for it if you're serious .. then see if you can branch out into other areas ..

Didn't FORD make a semi plastic 2 stroker destined for the mk 3 fiesta, had a polymer block with metal strengthening IIRC.

Back to the wood, would it produce a stradavarius type noise?

[hugoagogo]

FesterNath said:

I am now going to built a wooden engine.

hmm, that really goes against the grain
what inspired you to branch out like this?

(i'll leaf this now)

[cyberface]

Assuming it isn't the old 'wooden go' joke as mentioned above, I don't understand how it wood work

Seriously, wood isn't a great heat conductor so I can't see how air cooling would work - water cooling would face the problem of absorption into the wood. Any wood exposed to internal combustion is liable to burn, char or change shape irregularly.

Wood's anisotropic as well so you'll have trouble with rotating parts that aren't symmetrical - the crankshaft will be tricky.

I suppose it'd be like building an engine out of carbon fibre composite. Incidentally there are trees out there with large amounts of sodium oxalate in their wood matrix, these are highly fire-resistant. However this merely prevents combustion, I think the wood will still char and change shape.

And any 'wood' engine that has all the internal surfaces coated with something isn't really a wooden engine is it??

[s27]

I WOOD, take a LEAF out of tested engine makers book and STICK with their methods, not to say it WOODnt work.

I thought at first you may be BARKing, try and keep a LOG of the answers you have, it may be one, two or TREE ideas.

If it succeeds how many BRANCHES WOOD you open. Tyres from a Rubber tree perhaps. I am not being OAKWOOD. Why not start a SPLINTER group.

Alas it is KNOT for me, Thank YEW

SP