So here is my question for those who have motors built or who actually build motors. Would you allow some one to bore your motor or would you ever bore a motor without a torque plate. Im talking with a shop who guarantees they can get it with in a .001 with out a torque plate. Im only going .020 over.

Thanks
Jason.

 

Yes I would and I have my SR20 was bored without a plate.

 

I'd google Torque Plate and learn about them.

Why do you think so many High Performance shops use them?

http://www.superstreetonline.com/how...#__federated=1

 

http://www.bhjproducts.com/bhj_conte...s/hp_intro.php

 

I know about them and there purpose, i really dont want to get it done with out i'm just seeing who has done it with out and what the results were.

I've talked with about 7 different shops in with in a 5-6 hour drive and no one has a torque plate and they all said they would do it with out.

 

its less than 200$ to ship a bare block. In the total price of a engine build, small potatoes.

I'd never get honed without a plate.

Problem is with your machine shop guarantee, are you going to be the person using the the micrometer or be there to witness them measuring? If not, they can say and record
any value.

 

I would have the work done with the plate...it's not worth the headache to get your build complete just to learn something is wrong...

throw their guarentee out the window, if/when something goes wrong the shop will blame the failure on something else...just wouldnt do it...

 

Ok so i've been looking through other fourms and reading about boring open decks vs closed deck motors. So my question is how does a torque plate prevent our open deck motor from flexing during honing?

 

I'm far from an expert, never bored an engine so take this from a novice but my understanding is that you use the torque plate, torque it down to whatever the headstud torque spec is and when you bore the cylinders they are being bored in a manner more consistent with how the block will be once the heads are bolted/torqued on. You're mimicking the stresses that the heads/studs put on the block artificially during the honing process so when everything is put back together and the stress of the headstuds are applied, the bore will more closely match the desired shape.

 

I get that with a closed deck motor, but how does this happen with a open deck? In my mind "very newbish" all that will happen is it will make the water jackets around the stock sleeves smaller and the torque plate should press down on the sleeves. But like I said I just started reading about this stuff today.

 

 

http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/chev...14_camaro.html

 

I think Forged Performance rents out their torque plates

 

Those are all closed deck blocks, wich makes 10000% since on why to use a torque plate.

What about open deck blocks?

 

I did my best to help you.

Here is a VQ Block with Torque Plates.

 

I appreciate the help and im not going to do it with out a torque plate just to be on the safe side. I was just asking how a torque plate affects a open block compared to a closed block.

 

^ probably similarly. Is there less of a chance for an open deck block being more inaccurately honed without a torque plate? Maybe, but you're still taking a chance.

Thanks for the pics and links oldmanz350, very informative.

 

Over 10 years on my DE block that was done without a torque plate. No problemo.

Would the rings seal better though if a torque plate was used? Maybe. That motor has always had a little more crankcase pressure than I like to see.

Would I do it again without a torque plate? I dont know. I have 2 blocks of aluminum I ordered that are sitting here, waiting for me to cut them into torque plates for my machine shop to use with my VHR/HR build. So I guess not.

 

every engine is going to be different some, where the bolts actually have a direct connection to the bore because the threads are in a part of the block that shares material with the bore such as small blocks of most companys, the above mentions cummings, ect ect absolutely need them.

the vq however does not have this, the threads dont have a direct connection with the bore so they cannot distort them, when i did my engine we verified with a torque plate and saw no distortion at 105 ft lbs torque(i actually run 95 with the engine built).

also the cummings isnt a fair comparison when the studs are being torqued down to 140+ ft lbs of torque.

moral of the story? every engine family will be different, most open deck blocks dont need it, pretty much every closed deck does.

 

^ solid post