Street engines:
In the old days there were products made and sold to seal up radiator
leaks and so forth. The one that I recall seeing was a dark red powder,
sold in small cellophane packets. You pour it in your radiator while
your engine is running. I don't know if it sealed leaks or made a mess
or both. The concept of Portland cement is probably the same- pour it
in and hope it migrates to the cracks and seals them. Seems to me that
if you put very much of it in your engine it would just make a mess.
Dragster engines:
For a single run down the 1/4 mile, some engines don't even use radiator
cooling so theoretically they could have their blocks filled with
cement. Portland cement by itself is not very strong. Mix it with
water, let it cure, and it breaks up easily into little pieces. As for
pouring it into an engine, the first thing it will do during curing is
to shrink so it might be kind of a loose fit around the cylinders. I'm
not saying it doesn't do something to provide strength, it just seems
that it has characteristics that would work against it. I'm assuming
when they say "cement" that they mean portland cement. Portland cement
is a grey powder, like flour. You mix it with water, aggregates (sand
and gravel), and usually some additional chemicals, and it hardens and
becomes CONCRETE. Cement by itself can be mixed with water and it will
harden but it isn't very strong. There are some cement based
construction materials that could be used that would have more favorable
properties (non-shrink grout).
>> Anyone ever heard of such a thing?
>> My machine shop guy showed me an engine filled with cement.
>> It was an extremely high performance engine he was building.
>> I was a bit taken back by it when he explained how it dissipates the heat
>> better, strengthens the lower end of the block from too large a bore, but it
>> does make it a little heavier.
>> It all made sense when he showed me and explained it as a machinist only
>> knows how to explain it.
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