Russell Kent wrote:

Paul wrote:

Been thinking about this bell-housing/motor-mount thing and it
It occurred to me that what we need is a magnesium casting. Yes I know
magnesium burns but not thick parts so easily. VW crankcases
used to be made out of it and there has been lots of VW engine
fires without burning the crank case to my knowledge.

Aluminum burns, too.  The problem with magnesium is not that it burns, but rather that
once ignited it burns so energetically.  Water cannot extinguish a magnesium fire
(which is why they make underwater flares with the stuff).

The following two statements are at odds with each other:

Mag sand castings are not expensive.

and

There used to be a lot of magnesium foundries in LA until the environmentalist put
them out of business.

The only way the environmentalists could have put them out of business would be to
make the cost of compliance with the environmental regulations prohibitive.  Thus,
(legal) magnesium castings were priced out of the market.

Russell Kent

That is the point exactly. A draconian set of emission regulations far beyond
any economic reality is the main problem. Ten mag foundries in the LA basin, given 
all the other sources, are not going to make a drop in the ocean worth of
difference in the overall basin air pollution. Naturally occurring dust and fog 
is much more of a problem in the LA basin. This is not logic and reason. It is 
pure bleeding heart emotion. How can you accuse dust of causing pollution? It 
is easy to accuse bad old industry because bad old industry is run by robber barons.

Paul Lamar
 
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