Editing Engine block (section)

=== Cylinder block ===
{{multiple image
| title             = Cylinder blocks for a [[straight-six engine|straight-6]] engine
| width             = 200
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| image1            = Wolseley 6-cylinder marine oil engine (Rankin Kennedy, Modern Engines, Vol V).jpg
| caption1          = Marine engine with cylinders cast in three pairs
| image2            = Six cylinder engine with three cylinder blocks (Autocar Handbook, Ninth edition).jpg
| caption2          = Cylinders cast in two blocks of three
| image3            = CarterBMW1.JPG
| caption3          = Cylinders cast in a single block of six, with an integrated crankcase (turbocharger in background)
| alt1              = Wolseley marine engine
| alt2              = Six-cylinder engine
| alt3              = BMW engine block
}}

A cylinder block is a structure that contains the [[cylinder (engine)|cylinder]], plus any [[cylinder (engine)#Cylinder sleeving|cylinder sleeves]] and coolant passages. In the earliest decades of internal combustion engine development, cylinders were usually cast individually, so cylinder blocks were usually produced separately for each cylinder. Following that, engines began to combine two or three cylinders into a single-cylinder block, with an engine combining several of these cylinder blocks.

In early engines with multiple cylinder banks{{snd}}such as [[V6 engine|V6]], [[V8 engine|V8]], or [[Flat-six engine|flat-6]] engines{{snd}}each bank was typically made of one or multiple separate cylinder blocks. Since the 1930s, mass production methods have developed to allow both banks of cylinders to be integrated into the same cylinder block.