Time to rebuild the 'ol 230

[244ENBN]

Gearing up to rebuild my trucks engine and I remember some time ago on this forum a mention of cast iron cylinder sleeves being a good idea. Question is do you only use these sleeves if the cylinders are extremly wore out or is there another good reason to use them? Also how much is too much to remove from the cylinder head when resurfacing it for trueness? Just some questions as I tackle this project thanks for the help in advance.

[gwalker]

The purpose of sleeving an engine is to get back to the orignal cyl bore, or cover some bad damage in a cyl bore that cant be machined through. You can go to 060 over, but I wont take an engine (thats not built for high performance) past 030 after that its time to sleeve it back. As for the head as little as absolutly possible there is a rule as to the max off but I cant remember it, and a problem is that you cant tell if some had been taken off before to know how much is left (some shops migh make a small stamp in the surface somewhere how much they removed but not always). These are heavy cast parts on a low comp engine, unless there is some depressions between cyls- valves- coolant ports a little bit isnt going to be a prob.

[MSeriesRebuild]

Gearing up to rebuild my trucks engine and I remember some time ago on this forum a mention of cast iron cylinder sleeves being a good idea. Question is do you only use these sleeves if the cylinders are extremly wore out or is there another good reason to use them? Also how much is too much to remove from the cylinder head when resurfacing it for trueness? Just some questions as I tackle this project thanks for the help in advance.

Sleeved engines simply run & perform better, we have proven that over & over here. Not saying I would absolutely go to the extra expense to do it if a simple bore will cure all issues, but if cast iron sleeves are installed, you will have a better engine when all is said & done. You aren't likely to run into issues from head surfacing, as has already been said, cut it the minimum it takes to get flat. Be sure it is flat or you will have issues anyway.

[244ENBN]

Thanks for the replies. My machinist also suggested sleeving the cylinders even though they would have all cleared at .030 over. I think the extra cost is well worth the reliabilty from it. thanks again.