Sometimes when we take a step back from all the wrenching and writing we do, we find time to marvel at the well-machined engine parts that litter our garage. Have you ever wondered how a cylinder head is made, or how a piston is precisely machined? The question that has always stuck in our mind though is how do companies, OEM and aftermarket, craft this huge engine blocks that house our powerful motors?

Thanks to Kirkham Motorsports, who specialize in all-things aluminum, we now have a front row view of a 386 pound chunk of aluminum being manufactured into an engine block.

Now we’ve got some old, iron engine blocks sitting around our garage, and most of those weigh in the neighborhood of 200 pounds before you start adding internals, cylinder heads and so on. Aluminum engine blocks have become popular as of late because you can shave up to ¾ of that weight off while still having a very strong block. That’s what is going on here, as Kirkham starts out with a 386 pound block of aluminum before whittling it down to just 64 pounds. That means over the 30 hour machining process, over 322 pounds of aluminum were shaved away. Wow!

All of that aluminum doesn’t go to waste, and will be recycled to use another day (have you seen prices on aluminum lately?) The seven minute video details the whole machining process, and at the end of the day we’re left with a 427 engine block that weighs about a quarter of what it would have had it been made of iron. Ain’t technology grand?