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LN Engineering is proud to offer vintage cylinder reconditioning, including nikasil plating of chromal (chrome), ferral (flame-spray), and other vintage cast aluminum or cast iron cylinders. We understand the need to preserve originality and strive to modernize or restore even the oldest of cylinders! We first started offering over-bore and nikasil plating on cast iron cylinders for the wonderful wear characteristics, on top of the reduction in friction which provides more HP and lower oil temperatures. In high endurance applications, the nikasil plating offers superior wear properties and oiling that cast iron alone cannot offer where our Nickies cylinders or any other cylinders for that matter are not allowed by class rules. Nikasil plating thin-wall cast iron cylinders also help to strengthen the weak cylinder and fight ovality, washboarding, and eventual distortion of bores that leads to uneven compression, high leakdown figures, and cylinders that need to be replaced. This includes even Porsche 356 cast iron cylinders, bored out to 86mm. In some cases we can overbore and plate a cylinder for less the the cost of inferior aftermarket castings!
Even tired worn out cast iron cylinders can benefit from nikasil plating,
The above nikasil cast iron cylinders fitted with custom JE pistons during assembly and finished engine. Another popular movement has been to recondition factory alloy (aluminum) cylinders. Many of these originally came on the 356 with chrome or ferral (flame-spray iron) platings/coatings that are now inferior or more likely, worn out. We can strip these cylinders and either plate them to the original size with new superior forged pistons or over-bore them to a larger size for more displacement (more HP and torque). In most cases these factory aluminum cylinders will outperform any cast iron cylinder hands down and provide superior performance and longevity second only to a set of Nickies. Again cost is relatively inexpensive and not much more than a set of new cast iron cylinders.
We have even reconditioned rare and often NLA four cam aluminum alloy cylinders, and reconditioned in-spec pistons for match honing to the replated cylinder. We can take your original pistons as long as they are in spec and deemed re-useable and have them coated with a set of propietary coatings offered by Calico Coatings. In most cases, you end up with a piston that is better than when new.
Shown above is an example of a four cam piston and cylinder set that has been replated and match honed to a reconditioned piston that has been coated to better than new condition. If you have an aluminum cylinder that is damaged where there plating or coating is gouged, we can fix that too. With careful welding, we can build up the area and have the cylinder bored out and plated back to it's original size. Cryogenic treatment is recommended, but not necessary in most applications unless you are pushing the limit. Many people have biral cylinders that are old and otherwise un-useable. We can ever so slighly overbore the 82.5mm Porsche 356/912 birals and hone these cylinders to 83 or 83.50mm and for most stock or mild rebuilds, these provide superior performance again to cast iron cylinders. Same goes with birals found on the 911s. If you are building an engine that makes enough power to distort a biral cylinder, you should be running an aluminum cylinder, not cast iron!
Before (pictured above)
After (cylinder has been stripped, bored, and nikasil plated. In this case, the stock 82.5mm bore was opened up to 86mm)
Shown above is another customer's ferral alloy cylinder that we bored out and re-plated.
Do you have a set of 95mm 3.2 Carrera cylinders that are worn out (not ovaled or otherwise damaged due to overboost or overheating/detonation) or do you just want to upgrade to 98mm? We do that too and can fit them with a wide selection of custom JE Pistons. Same goes with later 100mm barrels that we can punch out to 102mm for those going to a 3.8 from their 3.6. In most cases, with surface grinding (not offered on the 100 or 102mm cylinders) and cryogenic treatment, you have a cylinder stronger than when it was new. Although there are new cast cylinders available from many sources, the factory castings are superior in most every respect and as long as they have not been abused, can be reconditioned. The factory 3.3 turbo half-finned cylinders are one exception- they should not be replated or reused in our opinion and the same goes for any cylinder that is severly ovaled or distorted from overheating or damaged from detonation or over-boost. Tell tale signs of this damage can be found by inspecting the rings and pistons from each cylinder or a rockwell hardness test of the cylinder. If any one cylinder is significantly softer than the others, it is suspect to be bad and should be replaced. If the history of a set of 911 cylinders cannot be accertained, I would go as far as to recommend not reconditioning them, as your finished product is only as good as what you start with.
For those striving to restore their cylinders to better than new, we can have them cyrogenically treated and have the sealing surfaces ground to a finish not even the factory could provide. If pistons are purchased at the same time as we re-do your cylinders, match honing is provided at no extra cost. If you desire to reuse your existing pistons, it is up to the customer to determine if pistons are in tolerance and re-useable prior to coating. We will only match hone to a used piston if it has been coated. Click here to see photos of some of the cylinders we have reconditioned.
Contact us at 815-472-2939 or info@LNengineering.com to bring your “tried and true" Aircooled engine to the new standard of precision performance!
Website last updated December 18, 2007. Contact webmaster at info@LNengineering.com Copyright LN Engineering LLC ©2006-2008 |
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