- Local time
- 7:40 PM
- User ID
- 25442
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2022
- Messages
- 273
- Reaction score
- 1,005
- Location
- Long Beach, IN
Super cool, thanks for posting this!
In a 4-stroke engine where you want the rings to rotate during engine operation, cast iron is hard to beat for a cylinder surface. In a 2-stroke with pinned rings, cross-hatch isn’t needed, and thus the cylinder wall can be very hard & smooth like nikasil or chrome. If you tried to use nikasil on a 4-stroke engine, and had the cross-hatch needed to cause ring rotation, I believe the rings would wear out very fast.IMO plating was used as a less expensive method of making cylinders .It might have worked for small engines like a chainsaw but so far has never worked well on automotive engines . Then again it all goes back to the oil which is the life blood of an engine 2 cycle,4 cycle, steam or turbine .All that said it's all about formed opinions which everybody has .
I'd always wondered if it were a weight issue. I mean, these saw manufacturers have shaved every gram, within reason. I realize sleeving a cylinder has its labors... But I wonder what the manufacturers cost offsets really are.. I mean plating is quite the process. In fact, I think if hyway used sleeves they'd be able to get that right. I think it's quite difficult to achieve proper adhesion, and most likely requires a surgical environment and special equipment... they have to hone the bore after plating anyway. I feel like holding a tolerance for the piston, isn't too far off from holding a tolerance for a sleeve. Or, perhaps they're just happy to be within 0.005", rather than 0.0005". I've pondered all this before. What IS the weight difference @Red97 ?IMO plating was used as a less expensive method of making cylinders .It might have worked for small engines like a chainsaw but so far has never worked well on automotive engines . Then again it all goes back to the oil which is the life blood of an engine 2 cycle,4 cycle, steam or turbine .All that said it's all about formed opinions which everybody has .
All Can Am, Polaris 4 strokes are nikasil. Yamaha SHO and Mercury Verado outboards are also Nikasil.In a 4-stroke engine where you want the rings to rotate during engine operation, cast iron is hard to beat for a cylinder surface. In a 2-stroke with pinned rings, cross-hatch isn’t needed, and thus the cylinder wall can be very hard & smooth like nikasil or chrome. If you tried to use nikasil on a 4-stroke engine, and had the cross-hatch needed to cause ring rotation, I believe the rings would wear out very fast.
I guess my thinking is wrongAll Can Am, Polaris 4 strokes are nikasil. Yamaha SHO and Mercury Verado outboards are also Nikasil.
The angle of the cross-hatch determines how much oil is retained on the cylinder wall. If the angle is too horizontal, the rings could never seat, always floating over an oil film.
Not necessarily, both 2 and 4 stroke cylinders have cross hatch in them to hold oil, the cross hatch does turn the rings as well.I guess my thinking is wrong
30 degreesAny idea what the optimal angle range is?
Ahhh I see.Classic Hyway & or Meteor failure.