Abstract: An engine block comprises a top part of the crankcase that is reinforced by a separate bottom part of the crankcase with an oil pan arranged at an exterior case wall of the bottom part of the crankcase configured so that the lubricating oil to be returned from the upper case area into the oil pan is not taken along by rotating engine components because, the bottom part of the crankcase has a lubricating-oil passage that is arranged in a fastening flange and leads out between the exterior case wall and an interior case wall, wherein the interior case wall, as a semicylindrical shell and, is arranged so that it extends close to the contour of the connecting-rod "violin" arrangement and forms a reinforcing connection to an additional opposite fastening flange of the bottom part of the crankcase and wherein the shell that separates the crank space from a space above the oil pan additional passages that are preferably arranged tangentially with respect to the shell for the discharge of lubricating oil coming out o