Sleeved block

[Omie01]

My father decided to take a 4 bolt .040 over block and have it sleeved in all 8 cylinders. In a round about way I ended up with it. Looking it over all the machine work looks good and they have one of those little warranty tags in one of the freeze plugs. If I want to use this block for a Boss 351 clone engine, can anybody see any problems with a fully sleeved block? It's back to a standard bore. I have just never heard of sleeving all 8 cylinders?

 

[Don C]

Nothing wrong with sleeving all cylinders. Done properly they will outlast the original cylinders. All aluminum blocks have sleeved cylinders.

For uniformity of wear and cooling sleeving all 8 has benefits over sleeving one or two cylinders.

As Clevelands get more difficult to find more will be sleeved.

 

[barnett468]

I would not run it unless i had it pressure tested if the sleeves went into the water jacket. Many sleeved blocks actually leak because of improper installation. You can also get it coated with calcium carbonate to reduce the chance that it might leak at a later time if you want.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

The sleeves should not have gone into the water jacket. Just a note. I am running a .050" over cleveland now with cam and flat top pistons 2-V heads with 4-V. It has no issues so far.

Mayer racing is making new Cleveland blocks right now. The first ones are being machined. You can get aluminum or a really beefed up iron block. I ask about the stress relieving and they do twice during mfg. The issue is they are over $6,000 I believe. NHRA has approved them for what class I do not know. Can be taken over 400 CI easily. I think they have 18 head bolts also.

 

[Canted 393]

The track boss cast iron block is about $2900 and 18 head bolts is an option.

https://www.tmeyerinc.com/product/track-boss-cleveland-block/

 

[7173Vert]

My original #'s matching 429cj engine in my vert was is serious need of saving when I got the car... If you look at the thermostat picture, you will get an understanding of how the rest of the engine looked when we disassembled it. The engine had already been bored .40 over and there was an issue with one of the cylinder walls that could not be fixed even with further boring which we did not want to do any way. After discussing the pro's and con's of sleeving, the fact that i wanted the original engine saved... we sleeved all eight cylinders to bring it back to standard bore. The engine had been rebuilt at least twice previously and if you saw some of the pictures I posted previously of the car before its restoration, you know it was driven hard and many miles... I am fortunate that I had a very good old school engine builder and racer that new what he was doing. Although a GM man... he gave the proper love to my BB as if it was going into one of his own car's. I am glad i went this route, but again, the main reason was to save the #'s matching engine on this rare car.

 

[c9zx]

I would have line bore checked as well as deck heights front to back and left to right. If was done properly it will be stronger than original and will have better leak down numbers. Chuck

 

[jpaz]

I am so glad this thread came up. I may have to do this also, but I didn’t know it could be done to the Cleveland block. I guess because of the thin wall casting it made me think that.

I’m waiting to hear back from machine shop about mine and this makes me feel better to know that the block can be saved if necessary. Hopefully I don’t have to go that route. It’s .30 over now but there are a couple cylinders with some deep scratches I guess. Still waiting to talk to them about it and why the scratches.

As long as the scratches aren’t gouges, then Im sure it’s fine and can go a bit more over if I have to.

 

[c9zx]

I am so glad this thread came up. I may have to do this also, but I didn’t know it could be done to the Cleveland block. I guess because of the thin wall casting it made me think that.

I’m waiting to hear back from machine shop about mine and this makes me feel better to know that the block can be saved if necessary. Hopefully I don’t have to go that route. It’s .30 over now but there are a couple cylinders with some deep scratches I guess. Still waiting to talk to them about it and why the scratches.

As long as the scratches aren’t gouges, then Im sure it’s fine and can go a bit more over if I have to.

Have a complete sonic test done before deciding to bore it or sleeve it. If you are lucky the core shift will be minimal and an over bore will be fine. If you want to know a bit more, https://www.knowyourparts.com/technical-resources/engine/installing-cylinder-sleeves/  Chuck

 

[jpaz]

I am so glad this thread came up. I may have to do this also, but I didn’t know it could be done to the Cleveland block. I guess because of the thin wall casting it made me think that.

I’m waiting to hear back from machine shop about mine and this makes me feel better to know that the block can be saved if necessary. Hopefully I don’t have to go that route. It’s .30 over now but there are a couple cylinders with some deep scratches I guess. Still waiting to talk to them about it and why the scratches.

As long as the scratches aren’t gouges, then Im sure it’s fine and can go a bit more over if I have to.

Have a complete sonic test done before deciding to bore it or sleeve it. If you are lucky the core shift will be minimal and an over bore will be fine. If you want to know a bit more, https://www.knowyourparts.com/technical-resources/engine/installing-cylinder-sleeves/  Chuck

Thanks Chuck, I will have them do this.

 

[Omie01]

I was told they did not have to go into the water jackets, that's why I even took it. My father also claims that it was sonic tested as well. Obviously before I build it I will get everything re-tested. Thanks gents!!

 

[Don C]

The only possible issue with dry sleeves is improper preparation and fit, so the sleeves don't have good contact with the original cylinder walls for heat transfer. But it sounds like they followed the right procedure by sonic testing it first, so the machine shop likely knew what they were doing.

 

[Spike Morelli]

Having a sleeved block should not be anything to worry about. Most commercially available sleeves are centrifically cast ( did I spell that right?), and are actually STRONGER than the factory cast iron block, having less porosity too. If the block being sleeved isn't sleeved because of a cylinder crack, the water scare isn't an issue because the cylinder isn't bored into the water jacket to receive the sleeve. The sleeved cylinder is bored leaving a "step" before the bottom of the bore so that the sleeve can't move down in use for any reason, and is machined even with the deck on top ( usually the entire deck gets a minimal skim ).

It's done everyday so stop worrying.