Quote:
Originally Posted by 12arotary
it just seems like string and rtv is going to wear out a lot faster than anything else
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Why?
The heat cycling will only affect the RTV, and even that is made to be heat cycled.
It's no worse than rubber/silicon based seals. There's no "moving" parts involved, and once the seal has been made it's not going to suddenly be "unmade" unless something happens to the groove, ie: casting falls away, the engine is torn down, pressurized steam by-passes the groove and eats the seal, etc.
The main purpose of the seals is just to contain the coolant and keep it out of the combustion chamber. Pressure from the combustion process should be kept to a minimum on the seal itself--this provided by the geometry of the seal groove itself.