I have a 64 block that needs an overbore but the number 4 hole is too thin for another overbore. Since the block is junk anyway, would it be possible to bore and wet sleeve it for a 3.75" bore? Looks like there is plenty of room in the water jackets and judging from what I have seen of the aluminum blocks, the cast in cylinders are not structural. Found a machine shop that claims to be able to do this if they can find sleeves long enough. KB has pistons that will work with 198 rods and if my math is right, I will wind up with a 273 slant. Too many problems, or should I go for it?

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If a MedAlert bracelet is the only bling you wear......You might be getting old.

sure sounds like a sweet combo... I have one doubt: what's the difference between a wet sleeve and a dry sleeve? my block has been sleeved in the past (sry sleeved) but I thought that once you hit the water you couldn't go back. I'm interested in this topic!

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

This can be done because I have had 440s repaired this way on which the cylinder wall was cracked. Now I don't know if it can be done out to .375 bore or not. Sleeving the block for doing a big overbore is something I am going to look into but I do not know what the limits would be yet.

One thing you have to consider is how much meat will be left between the cylinders for the head gasket to seal on. You would be 375 thousandths over stock. So does it look like you could remove 3/8 inch of meat between the cylinders and still have enough meat to seal a head gasket? I am going to say probably not. I would guess that somewhere around 3.600 to 3.650 would maybe be the limit, although even this much has more benefit than just the overbore. It can help the head breathe better and even leave room for bigger valves than what could normally be run. That would be cool to be able to run a 1.9 & 1.6 valve. This would help the old slant out quit a bit.

The only thing is, I think it is about $100.00 per hole to sleeve a block. That is $600.00 on top of any other machine work you need.

Jess

Lots of people have proposed doing it, none have actually gotten it done. Try it and let us know how it works.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Is there a head gasket available that will seal a bore that large and not hang over the edge of the cylinder wall?

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

I don't know about any other gaskets, but I'm pretty sure the SCE copper head gaskets, sold by Cox Bros, can be obtained in any bore size.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Get them to try one cylinder and see how it goes.....

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I have looked into doing this a few times...

The major concern is that completely boring out the cylinders takes away most of the top deck support. The cast-in cylinder walls act like supporting columns for the deck. Without top deck support there would be a high likelihood of head gasket sealing problems (even worst then what the Alm. block faces).

If I were to try this, I would offset the new bores in order to leave (at most) 1/2 of the original cylinder walls and the resulting column support those "1/2 columns" would provide for the top deck.

FYI:
Most machine shops do not have the equipment needed to do off-set boring. Their equipment can only "follow along" the existing bore centerline and make that bore bigger.

DD

Wow! Didn't mean to stir up all this. Thanks for the input and the ideas.
To answer some of the questions in no particular order. The difference between a dry sleeve and a wet sleeve is contact with coolant. Manufacturers have been building wet sleeve engines for years (Renault springs to mind). The biggest problem with a wet sleeve engine is coolant leakage at the bottom of the bore. As far as cost, who knew the kid who busted my forehead open with a bat during a second grade softball game would own a machine shop forty some years later? What really boggles my mind is that he is a slant freak and considers this a personal challenge. I should have .230" of meat between the cylinders and I am planning to leave the tops of the sleeves 2 or 3 thousandths above the deck and use the sleeve itself as the main sealing surface. This should work if I have the bottom of the cylinder step bored to support the bottom of the sleeve. If the piston don't go there it doesn't need to be 3.75". The rods will clear what is there and the wear pattern on the bores tell me that if I can get a zero deck, I will have about 1/2" in the bottom of the bore for this. Of course, this will all take time since I am living on a fixed income, but Ray says I can make payments. Have I missed anything? Thanks again for your comments and input.

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If a MedAlert bracelet is the only bling you wear......You might be getting old.

You might rethink doing 3.6" or 3.65". The Aussie "Permaseal" head gasket is 3.66" bore size and is the biggest off-the-shelf available.

Sounds like a fun project! BTW, I'm in Blacksburg now, which is <2hrs from Charleston. Hope to see you at a race or somwhere...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Doc makes a good point about offset boring. In IMHO I think 230 is pushing it and this may not even be enough room for the sleeves not to be butting into each other like a Siamese bore. Personally I think that just dry sleeving the bores enough to add stability for a 3.650 bore would be enough. The Slant head can only flow so much air so going real big could leave the engine a little peaky on the RPM band because of not enough flow to feed the top RPM range good. But maybe not.

If your friend is a good machinist, go with his ideas and experience and see where the chips fall. It sounds like its not going to be too much on the money, and you never know, you may just make a monster Slant that we all will be wanting to build.

There are different kinds of sleeves on the market and you might luck out and find a sleeve made for the Import crowed that will fit. If so, some of their sleeves are made to be extremely tough at a thin thickness for racing purposes. Finding one tall enough would be a quest. You might even call up some of the companies that make these sleeves for the import guys and it is possible they could make them at any height.

Good Luck with your project and let us know what you end up doing & how the results turn out. One thing is for sure you can’t get anywhere without trying.

Jess

That is what this site is for. To stir the pot and see what we have for supper. Many ideas are better then one.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

And it can bring out more ideas when it stirs the thoughts of others.


Jess

Fired off an email to Darton Sleeves. Will let you know what they say. I figured they might know since they have been making most of the sleeves for KB and Donovan fuel motors since 1978. I'll keep you posted and thanks for all the skull sweat.

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If a MedAlert bracelet is the only bling you wear......You might be getting old.

I am in the middle of my engine build and we just, after a lot of measuring, bored number 4 to 3.588. It looks like there are lots of ring packages in the 3.622 size. So we're getting the sonic checker out today to make sure there will be 3/16 wall left after. We're using the 3.66 Ausie head gasket.

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67Cuda,FAST EZEFI,340cu,CR=10.25,RollerCam&Rocker (XR268HR,#20-810-9)(#1622-16)(EddyRPM#60779,#7576), (MSD6AL,#6425) A904, GearVendorsOD, 8 1/4,3.55:1, ClassicAir