Grouting a block?

[304runner]

Yeah I was wondering what "grouting " a block actually does.

I was reading a discription on eBay about an engine where it requires the engine to be grouted in order to see the predicted HP?

Being in construction and hearing the word "grout" being used in a mechanical aplication is somewhat confusing.

Can anyone tell me what it is and how its done and the pros and cons that go with it?

Cheers

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

It is filling the water jackets with grout making the block more solid to strengthen it. It is used mainly in drag engines that do short runs so cooling isn't necessary.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

It's used for a couple of reasons in Holden V8's. First reason is generally on 383 stroker Holdens, to gain enough clearance for the longer throw of the 383 crank you normally go through the water galleries in the side of the block (or go very thin in material) so the block is grout filled up to the welch plugs to fill in the void in the block. 355 strokers don't require this to be done as there is not as much metal to be removed.

The second reason is that it greatly increases block rigidity (this is with any engine, not just Holden V8's) obviously making the block much stronger and helps to stop the block from twisting and/or the main caps walking.

The pro is obviously making the block stronger. The con is that it obviously means less coolant in the cooling system, which can lead to heating problems. However, given that a lot of the cooling is done in the heads, it normally doesn't present a problem, but the chance of heating problems is always there.

You can fill a road engine with grout to the welch plugs, but on an out and out race engine that has no cooling system, normally the whole engine is grout filled to make the block as strong as possible.

[304runner]

Ah ok, yeah cheers for the reply.

Makes allot of sence now I understand the#principle of it.