Sleeving a Busted Wall

11secAvanti · Post by **11secAvanti** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:04 pm

I have a R-1 Avanti 289 block that has a busted #8 cylinder wall. A section piece that is shattered shows a wall thickness of .250". Can a cylinder be sleeved if a large portion of the wall is "missing." The stock bore is 3.5625 and the deck height is 10.049". Is a special sleeve required or can it be a generic universal? I would like to increase the displacment by as much as possible by boring. Assuming the other walls are 1/4" thick how much over bore can a 1/4" wall take and remain safe for 10.5:1 compression.

bill jones · Post by **bill jones** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:51 pm

-Is there enough full diameter left at the top of the cylinder for the sleeve to get a good start when pressing it in?
-If the missing piece has no support on one side of the bore, then the sleeve will try to move that direction and may not have the rigidity to keep the sleeve aligned decent.
-I don't think that it should be a big problem to resleeve the block using a universal sleeve or maybe you could even use a stepped at the top sleeve.
-Beings it's #8 you only have to worry a little about how it distorts the one bore next to it, and that won't be a problem if you intend to bore all the cylinders.
-I'd think that a 3/32" sleeve thickness after final bore would be sufficient if the broken section is NOT on the thrust wall (passenger side of that bore).
-If the thrust wall is the area that is broken and it's over a large portion about 1/3 way down the bore I'd probably look around to see what thicker sleeves could be used.
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-When you get to pressing in sleeves the stresses distort the deck, the adjacent cylinder bores, and can mess with the cam and crank alignment.
-So you might need to pay close attention to the camshaft fit and the crank main bearing bores in the block may need to be alignhoned when you get done.
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-I would check with your machinest and see what he comes up with and how convincing he is about his sleeving practices.
-Personally if I was looking to find the right guy I'd look for an older guy who has been around a long time with a lot of experience at such matters.
-I use a guy here locally in SLC Utah that is in his middle 60's or early 70's and this guy is so good it's just a joy to deal with him.

11secAvanti · Post by **11secAvanti** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:14 pm

The split starts about mid skirt of the piston and goes down about 3 inches. The section that I removed was about 2 inches by 1.5'. The section at the very top is still all there and so is the bottom part. The split wall section is not on the thrust side of the cylinder but is on the side facing the rear of the engine. Yes, I would rebore all the other cylinders because of top cylinder wear and severe rust pitting. Engine was frozen and left in the rain by previous abuser. I bought it as a spare but would like to redemn the block if possible. It appears it could go out to 3.750" ok . Thanks for the response and other inputs are welcome.

BRENT FAY · Post by **BRENT FAY** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:32 pm

If you want to go to a larger bore,say .060 over I would use a universal sleeve for a 3.625 bore. That way when bored to .060 you'll still have .125 wall. Sealed power #SL17Y . Would also recommend leaving a small ledge at bottom when boring for the sleeve to rest on,that way sleeve cant drop and would use a block sealer at the bottom when driving the sleeve in to make a good water tight seal. But first I would have the block cleaned and magged to maybe bring out any other flaws than the obvious since you said it had been frozen. Brent

11secAvanti · Post by **11secAvanti** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 8:35 pm

Ok, thank you so very much, especially for the recommended sleeve. It is going to take a good .060 over stock bore to clean up the other walls, one in particualar.