i am in desperate need of some info. i need to find out the exact materials used to make the valve springs, camshaft, piston rings, cylinder head, bearings, cylinder block and the crankshaft of a 95-97 ford fiesta zetec s engine. i have done various hardness tests to try and determin the materials however get very different values on each repeat experiment, i have also search the internet and read through books but find conflicting data. can anybody help?
thanks in advance

 

tough question. Thats is some serious info you need.

Have you tried being cheeky and sending an email or giving someone like Burton Power a call. They specialise in engines parts and maybe able to help. I'm not even sure ford know what they put in them.

Best of luck though as getting the exact material will be difficult.
Most companies will probably say the following

Valve Springs - High Tensile Spring steel
Camshaft - Carbon Steel of a certain percentage
Piston Rings - Forge Alloy (try Cross Manufacturing Company. Think they do rings)
Cylinder head - Aluminium Alloy
Bearings - Same as camshaft
Block - Alloy or steel - not really sure on this one.

Also how are you doing the hardness testing? Is Rockwell or vickers etc? The hardness may also vary on how much heat has been passed through the material. i.e. Normalising, Annealling etc.

Hope this helps.

 

thanks for your reply

tell me about it its so hard to find but its expected of us (this is my first project in the seconds year of my mechanical engineering degree) as you say they probably dont even know exactly what goes in it

well i did tried ford (as have others in my class) but as i expected noboday could be bothered to speak to me

the hardness tests were vickers, its proving quite hard to find a full range of conversion tables for vickers - UTS i can only find conversions for a very small range of vickers numbers

 

I recon your best bet would be to contact specialist companys that make one component in particular. Ford generally dont make alot of there components but infact sub them out to other companys. So contat companys that specialzes in cams, valve springs, pistons, cylinderheads ect. I recon they will be able to help you more than ford

 

i was starting to think along these lines...but who supply ford? is it reasonable to suggest they use the same materials as will be used in other mid range road cars? (apart from plastic intake manifolds lol)

 

I'll ask at work tomorrow if I get time. I'm little busy at the moment. But I can't ask a mate who works in engine development who they use. Seeing as Jag and Land Rover are Ford owned we must use the same suppliers.

Used to use this link for my materials stuff http://www.gordonengland.co.uk/hardness/

Used to have some great conversion tables on there. I've dragged it out of my History so apologies if its no longer there

 

Just thinking about it, Ford do all there own castings in leamington spa. Manifolds, blocks, cams etc......although its been a while since I've know anyone who works there.

 

cheers fozy, any help is great as time is running out fast. once this part of the report is out the way i should be ok. its in 3 parts, the first is to analyse the current engine, the 2nd and 3rd are about designing a new engine that will have a power increase of 35% at 30% higher revs, i already have lots of ideas for this.

 

Sounds like a cool project. All we ever did was stick some bits of metal for tensile testing. never got to do exciting stuff. I'll keep you posted if I get anything

 

oh beleive me iv done my fair share of tensile testing. it was coursework last year and they have managed to fit it in again this year...

thanks again

i'm starting to tihnk i should have posted this in 'general' as i've just seen the amount of people viewing that section

 

post a quick link in there then to this post. Good chance they'll have a look seeing as your a lady who knows what they're talking about.

 

i did think about it but didnt know if it would be allowed..will go and do it, you can take the blame now lol

 

Charming You won't get told off. Its a general discussion in my book...it just happens to be a ford engine.

 

I'm afraid you're wasting your time trying to determine the composition of the various metals by hardness testing, different materials can exhibit the same hardness. You need to use an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to determine the elemental property of the alloys. Bear in mind that the bearings are a backing material coated with various alloys.

 

i know its a waste of time myself, the hardness will be different through the section aswell and the properties will have been affected from cutting etc but its in the spec list of my project so i have to do it, dont think they have a X-ray fluorescence spectrometer at uni lol

 

If you haven't got access to a spectrometer I guess the only way to find out is from Ford. How important is is to find out composition of the parts from the engine you've chosen? Will typical components do?

 

the lecturer specificaly said to us about getting the hardness and it's one of very few things he has said to us about the project so im guessing he wants it. i think typical components will help

 

does it have to be exact? cant you get some rough figures for any other make of car? If you cant find out for this exact car, he wont be able too? it's only a white lie

 

Don't believe it, you'll probably find out he used to work for Ford and this is why he picked that engine I think it's the Sigma engine developed with Yamaha and used in some Mazda's too if that helps. You could try being cheeky and phoning the Dunton Technical Centre and asking for help.

 

i thought this as well cheers

apparently all garages used to have a program which contained all the details of part numbers and materials for the ford engines, they no longer use it and sell it to the public ? ( ) one of the guys in my class claims to have a copy but wont share

 

There is a electronic parts catalogue called Microcat, I'd be surprised if it gave materials though.