lightweight astrons

[stealth]

hi all
i have had a few people ask me about these pics so i thought
i would post them for all





cheers stealth

[EVL076]

good to see ya have got ya chinese safety boots on mate ;)

[cheaterparts]

hi all
i have had a few people ask me about these pics so i thought

what have you got there Joe Knox ?
looks like a fork lift block - are they any lighter than the balance shaft motor ?

[stealth]

its a astron 1 wideblock out of a sigma
thats has been machined to remove just about anything
thats not required it now weighs 40.4 kgs with caps
the head is a m7 magna same treatment and weighs 11.2kg complete
(std valves havent got to the titanium bits yet)
not sure what a std block weighs but i think it was around 6.5 kgs
but i will strip a block down and weigh it for the comprasion
mate the work boots are a must glad you cant see the jimmy can in
the hand
cheers stealth

[mic_77]

Looks a bit like a Canter block???


cheers Mic

[Sigmaproject]

-
The oil pressure sender at the rear means its not Astron 1

[amgis_obrut]

-
The oil pressure sender at the rear means its not Astron 1

I think we might have been given a bum steer about the oil pressure switch thing

see the hole forward of the oil filter that leads directly into the main oil gall, forward of that hole is the exit port for the oil pump, thats where the switch is on my turbo block

[Sigmaproject]

-
OK, well if thats the case, then it must be one of those Local made or imported issues

The only pics I have of Astron blocks have what I assume is the sender switch just to the right of the oil filter.

And I know for sure that Astron II has the sender towards the rear on the same side. (I would take a pic of mine, but it is hidden by the wastegate.

[stealth]

mate its a series 1 astron one out of a gk gsr
have a good look the oil pressure sender is at the front
i have three blocks like this and one like the one in your
pic and as far as i know the oil pressure sender at the back
is for fwd
doesnt really matter where oil pressure sender goes does it?
hay cheater how much does scotts block weigh ,that a bare block isnt it
anyway enjoy
cheers stealth

[karl_2ltgc]

Thats nice an all, but were do you put the balance shafts now?

[stealth]

thats a good one
there was a whole post on that,remember we use them
on people that ask what sort of datto we are driving

cheers stealth

[cheaterparts]

hay cheater how much does scotts block weigh ,that a bare block isnt it
anyway enjoy
cheers stealth

its still a bare block I'll weigh it

[stealth]

thanks mate that saves me having to strip one in any
hurry
cheers stealth

[cheaterparts]

it now weighs 40.4 kgs with caps
the head is a m7 magna same treatment and weighs 11.2kg complete
(std valves havent got to the titanium bits yet)

now a Knife edge crank gets rid of at least 2 Kg
an aluminium under drive pulley and of cause a light flywheel clutch assembly

this could work out lighter than a saturn but with HP

[stealth]

i clearly remember that the botten end was 13.8 kgs
lighter than std thats was with block,crank,pistons,crank
pulley (i use 308 romac)and flywheel
and i took 2.2kgs of the crank and i havent done the knife
edging yet that will be another 1.5 to 2 kgs
and yes thay do end up about 2.5 heaver that the saturn
as i said there more potenial as im doing it all again but with
an astron 2 narrow block
this time ill right down all the weights for posting
remembering that scotts block is bored to 92.5 yeah
and the one i got is std bore
cheers stealth

[cheaterparts]

pulley (i use 308 romac)and flywheel

I machine my own under drive pulley from some T6 aly bar stock
going to the narrow block is better for light weight flywheel being 1 1/2
smaaler in dia

and yes scotts block is a 92.5 bore

[stealth]

that and the fact that the g/box pattern is same as
4g63bt which is up next
and sick of have differnt patttern boxs everywhere
cheers stealth

[2.6_sigma_skidder]

Thats nice an all, but were do you put the balance shafts now?

in the bin lol

[Sigmaproject]

doesnt really matter where oil pressure sender goes does it?

cheers stealth

No it doesnt matter.

But it is just one more piece of information in the identification of Astron blocks. I have only owned one car with an Astron I, and that was a Scorpion. It had the oil sender in the same location as the blocks in the photo' I posted. So from that I will assume that they are the japanese made Astrons.

On some Performance forums I look at form time to time, there is a number of posters that are of the opinion that the imported blocks are less prone to cracking than the local blocks.

[stealth]

mate that wouldnt surprise me at all,as local manufactures commonly
use local products to do all casting (its part of the local content law)
and that normally means we get the same car but poorly made
cheers stealth