Excerpt from Wikipedia, "Nikasil was very popular in the 1990s. It was used by companies such as Audi, BMW, Ferrari and Jaguar Cars in their new engine families. However, the sulfur found in much of the world's low quality gasoline caused some Nikasil cylinders to break down over time [1], causing costly engine failures."
The article mentioned that it was also used very successfully by Porsche in the '70's and that it is still widely used in racing engines. There are probably others out there more knowledgeable on the sulfur content of AvGas and can chime in on this, but if the article is any indication, it sounds like the fuel saved by the 10 - 15 lbs of weight reduction may not be worth the cost of the aluminum cylinders with this plating. Don Greer Belleville, Ontario On 30-Jan-11, at 8:10 PM, Tony King wrote: > Reading through some stuff over the weekend I realised VW cylinders > are used > on some Corvair builds. This got me wondering about using nikasil > cylinders > to save weight. I've seen claims of about 10lb saving from a set of > nikasil > cylinders on a VW, so I assume that would translate to a 15lb saving > on a 6 > cylinder engine. Given the effort many builders go to to save > weight I'm > surprised I haven't seen anything about using nikasil cylinders on > Corvairs. Apart from the cost, is there any other downside? > > Tony King > Queensland Australia
