TYPE lV NIKASIL CYLINDERS, From 98mm to 104mm Options

[Type 4 Unleashed]

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[Jake Raby]

Certain types of issues are actually a good thing... That may sound crazy, but its the truth... Issues have been the basis of my entire engine/research program- without negative results you can't identify positive results.... In the words of Thomas Edison "Results! why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work."

Most of the issues with Charles' cylinders have been something that I have found personally on my dyno, or in one of the engines that I built for him specifically for this purpose. Most all of these were in the early days and were simple to "fix" and they have not been an issue since.

I do know of a couple of situations that the installer of the cylinders and their lack of experience with Nikasil have created less than perfect results. The most serious of these was aggrevated by excessive piston/cylinder clearance, improper ring set up (way too much end gap), and improper cylinder head torques just to name a few..... The end user listened to everyone but the Mfr, but none of those telling him how to build his engine had any Porsche experience, nor first hand Nickies experience. This coupled to his desire not to buy another set of more compatible pistons with the proper ring land was the root of his issue- no doubt. Nikisil isn't like a generic cast iron cylinder that can have the hone or plateau finishes altered for better compatibility with almost any ring; it requires certain compatibility and without it you are pissing in the wind.

Situations like this one net a customer very vocal with his issues, yet reserved with the actual truth behind those issues and the fact that maybe he CREATED the issues... Anyone who sells anything to anyone WILL have some sort of an issue at some point and time- the more exotic the project and the more demanding the assembly, the easier and more frequent they occur.

Jack or anyone else creating a cylinder program like this WILL ALSO HAVE ISSUES to work through and if they pay attention to the results, learn from them and take care of the customer it will be to their benefit as time progresses. Hell cast iron cylinders have been in use for well over 120 years in everything from steam engines to todays passeger cars.... even 120 years later there are STILL negative issues with something thats about as simple as they come- a good example of this is the inability of a Total Seal ring to ever really "seat" inside a stock Type IV cylinder, no matter the preparation. Remember that.

My philosophy is that if you don't have issues and break things you haven't pushed them hard enough- Try harder.