EN1A Leaded steel

[fourstroke]

HI,
Can anyone tell me if en1a leaded stel would be ok for cylinder liners?
The piston will be aluminium with cast iron rings
Thanks
Dougie

 

[Charles Lamont]

Possibly not the best choice, but you might well get away with it.

 

[Jasonb]

I've used it on model aero engines with all iron pistons (lapped - no rings) and they are good for 8000rpm+ so should not be a problem on your slower running marine engine.

Allow about 0.003" per inch dia on the piston to allow it to expand.

 

[fourstroke]

Thanks guys
Jason, would iron then be a better choice for the pistons?

Regards
Dougie

 

[Jasonb]

You should be Ok with Ali ones with iron rings, will help keep the weight down so less vibration to balance out.

J

 

[cwelkie]

I've used the exact combination with results on three engines so far. The current build will likely be the same but I might tempted to try steel rings as per a "recent" Model Builder" article - just for a change.
Go for it ...
Charlie

 

[GailInNM]

It should work fine for you. I have used 12L14, the US equivalent of EN1A Pb, on a number of small engines with lapped cast-iron pistons and one hit or miss engine with cast-iron rings on an aluminum piston. All have been satisfactory.

Many years ago 12L14 was used for cylinders and liners by several commercial model aero engine makers in the US using CI ringed pistons. These were mostly the lower cost engines in their range of radio control engines. These engines worked well but wore out after a couple of hundred hours of flying. Being low cost engines we normally just replaced them every season or so rather than rebuilding them. By comparison, the highest quality chromed sleeve engines of the time would only last about twice as long and cost far more than twice as much to buy.

Gail in NM