Iron Vs. Aluminum Block

[Lextreme II]

2UZFE is a casted Iron block and the 1 & 3 UZFE are aluminum. I under weight is an issue. I noticed lots car companies use casted iron block for FI application. For example the Ford 2003 Cobra uses casted iron vs. the other years are aluminum. Is casted iron stronger for FI?

 

[Zuffen]

For a given casting thickness cast iron will be up to 5 times stronger than aluminium.

The weight difference between the two is not all that great when you look at the overall mass of the engine/trans.

The Cast iron will give longer service with less problems (corrosion) and is quite a bit cheaper for the manufacturers to make.

Trouble with the 2UZ is the two bolt main.

 

[turboandrew]

a bare 1UZ block is 80 lbs. I think an iron version would be ~200 lbs. 120 lbs is quite a bit of difference to me.

That being said, I will first be running a 2UZ in my Supra, mainly because it's the only 100% complete 1/2/3UZ motor I have right now. The 1UZ will be built then installed later.

I don't see how there's any concern for strength on probably either toyota block. It's a trade off between displacement and weight.

I'm sure the Cobra does not get the aluminum version because IMO they do not have the reliability engineering that toyota does, and going iron is the cheap way out. Toyota uses the iron block on certain vehicles because it's pointless to spend that kind of money on aluminum on a cheap, heavy truck (although it sounds like the next gen LX470 will get a very nice aluminum block at a premium).

If you can afford it, I would go with a bored/stroked 1UZ. It sounds like more and more of us are after this. It would be nice to find a reputable engine builder who has done this before. The engine builder for the guy in this thread would be nice to track down, as he is the only one I have heard of in the USA to do this:

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...&perpage=15&highlight=Jim Meader&pagenumber=2

 

[autronic]

Guys:

The only problem I can see with a 1000+ HP 1UZFE engine is the wall strenght of the block. The cast iron liners is 2 or 3 mm thick + there is 6 mm aluminium on the outside of these.

If I was to build a 1000 HP engine I'd go for a slighthly smaller bore, lets say 86.0 mm, and to achive this I'd get thicker liners fitted to the 1UZFE block.
The total volume of this mod. would reduce the total volume to 3.8 liter but so what ? To compensate I'd wind the boost up a bit more + I'd rev it higher....

 

[Peewee]

The block should handle 1500hp quite happily.
Past that and things being to break.

The only reason the 2UZFE is cast iron, is because while Toyota was offroading the alloy blocks, in serious offroad conditions, they found that the engine mount was being ripped off the side of the block.

Thats not very good for reliability.
Hence the iron block was used.