Ardea engine

[Niels Jonassen]

A friend of mine has discovered that there are cracks in his Ardea engine and cylinder head. He feels pretty lost. He is not keen on having it welded. Does anyone know of an available engine?

[davidwheeler]

 https://www.chaseengines.co.uk/     will almost certainly be able to mend the block with cold metal spray of aluminium.   They have done excellent repairs on my Lambda block.   There is no distortion at all and the repair is totally sound.   Talk to Nick Gilfillan and mention my name.     I do not know about the head but it may also be possible to repair that.   They also did a bottom end rebuild and made and excellent job.    Well worth an enquiry at least.

[DavidLaver]

From their FAQ:

What is Supersonic metal spray?
Cold Spray (gas dynamic cold spray or supersonic metal spray) is a coating deposition method where solid powders mainly of metal are accelerated in a supersonic gas jet stream to velocities up to 1000 m/s. During impact with the substrate, the metal particles undergo plastic deformation and adhere to the surface. The kinetic energy of the particles is converted to plastic deformation energy during bonding. Unlike other techniques, the powders are not melted during the spraying process. The big advantage can be no distortion due to heat in the piece under repair and a wide choice of metal powders which allow us to rescue otherwise irreparable components. To-date we have used it to repair such things as pitted and damaged cylinder head sealing faces, the parent bores of Aluminium blocks like Aston Martin and we are now experimenting and finding new applications to help keep old motors on the road.

[GG]

Ardea has a cast iron block - will this still work?
Seen at Padova a couple of years ago. Seems like Ardea cracks aren't unknown. Maybe contact the Ardea Club in Italy - http://www.lancia-ardea.it

[DavidLaver]

I doubt this is the solution here but in case of general interest...or maybe one day actual use...

---

I can't find the exact company I'm thinking of, but its now possible to 3D print sand to cast into and so skip the pattern making process.  One example:

https://www.exone.com/en-US/3D-printing-systems/sand-3d-printers
https://www.exone.com/en-US/case-studies/german-automaker

A UK company with classic car reverse engineering expertise:

http://www.a2p2.co.uk/index.php?idPage=9

It can only have been at the Excel classic car show in 2019 that I saw the company I'm thinking of...  From memory they can get very specific with textures / surface finish.

[DavidLaver]

Still not the one I'm remembering, but a better description of the process, perhaps as they reference traditional methods:

https://www.spotlightmetal.com/3d-printing-saves-up-to-75-in-sand-casting-costs-a-778223/

[DavidLaver]

Likely it was this one.  Press release for the 2018 show and the video is what they had in 2016.  No need to have the "generic engineering music" running for the video, in fact I'd go so far as to recommend sound off...  Perhaps I've been to too many uni open days.

https://www.3dealise.com/en/v12-engine-and-other-castings-reproduced-with-3d-printing-exhibited-at-london-classic-car-show.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=9JoPXiC7KoQ&feature=emb_logo

https://www.3dealise.com/doc/47870-3Dealise-Brochure-EN1601.pdf

This generic film I think is in Dutch, so again no need for the sound, English subtitles.  More detail on the actual printing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5CtOr3c7T0

[nistri]

Important to find out if the engine is S1-S2 or S3-S4 as the earlier engine had a cast iron head. Careful browsing through the web should source an Ardea engine, not cheap though. Andrea

[DavidLaver]

Another technology to ponder is LASER welding.  I think this company was written up in The Automobile, might have been the gearbox for a FWD Alvis, perhaps having cast a replacement section they welded it in.  They've been at it 14 years and put a lot of broken old racing cars back together.  Five miles down the road from Jim Stokes which is another place to "ask the question".

http://www.e-m-p.biz/laser-welding/classic-cars/

Irrelevant here, but as fine as 0.2mm and within 0.025mm of stuff you don't want touched...  The important bit is how little heat.

http://www.e-m-p.biz/laser-welding-2/

[DavidLaver]

There's a slide show in the link above but not much to see.  Just found their facebook page. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Engineering-Service/Emp-laser-services-ltd-1571914842936357/

[davidwheeler]

Ardea has a cast iron block - will this still work?
Seen at Padova a couple of years ago. Seems like Ardea cracks aren't unknown. Maybe contact the Ardea Club in Italy - http://www.lancia-ardea.it

That does look bad but worth sending them the pictures to ask I guess.

[GG]

Important to find out if the engine is S1-S2 or S3-S4 as the earlier engine had a cast iron head. Careful browsing through the web should source an Ardea engine, not cheap though. Andrea

Did all of them use liners, or just the s.4?

[nistri]

I think so but I cannot confirm it. Interestingly, I have the original Lancia parts catalogue (1941) and it does not list either pistons or liners as spares for the Ardea. Andrea