Well before anyone could really answer my questions about my sleeved block the thread got locked. I need a professional opinion if this block needs to be resleeved. They all seem to be offset but evenly offset if you know what I mean. Is this a problem or just a result of a certain companys sleeving process? Thanks guys, gotta get ready for this race season.

 

I dont know about the sleeves but u need to remove the sharp edges from those pistons

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ntense90crxsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well before anyone could really answer my questions about my sleeved block the thread got locked. </TD></TR></TABLE>

HAHA Yea, I was reading that thread and then all of a sudden that thread was GONE

Honestly IMO, I don't think there is any need to re sleeve this block. But I am not a machinist so dont take my word for it

What kind of pistons are those?

 

These are the original pics of when I got it. It has been ran since. Some stuff was brought up about sleeving in another thread and made me think about mine and this minor issue if indeed it is a issue at all. I am just trying to figure out if I need to send it back to them to fix or not before next race season.

 

correct those pistons should have really been deburred if they havent already been.

Eral said that the ugliest blocks make the most power..

honesly if you havent already seen any problems with the sleeves like that its just a cosmetic defect. if the sleeves havent sunk or anything like that, its just a minor cosmetic defect.

also there are blocks out there that have a few mm between the sleeves and run perfect. IMO its just a matter of opinion on them if you have yet to see any problems arrise from the sleeves

 

Well that block is on its 3rd build in a couple of years and the pistons seem to have skirt wear on them from the bottoms of the cylinders before each build. I have also noticed some slight leakage between cylinders, nothing major but enough you could see on top of the sleeves which also could of been caused by headgaskets. I also had some prior oil pump problems also so lack of lubrication could of caused that wear too. I am just trying to be on top of my P's and Q's before race season this year.

 

yea alot of the times its hard to tell exactly what is the cause of this or that problem when it comes down to oil,pistons,rods and sleeve wear..... oil pump problems definitly can be the cause of the alot other problems that can ''look'' like problems that have araised from sleeves.... ie: skirt wear,sleeve wear,bearing failure ect...

now if you didnt have oil pump problems then yes it might be easier to tell weather or not the sleeves were the cause of the problem..

did you have the pistons in that build deburred?

 

also alot of things can be happenstance which is were like you said the headgasket could be the cause of a problem but becuase of a ''cosmetic'' defect that the sleeves arent lined up just right, makes you wonder weather or not its the sleeves..

in that case you definitly need to consider alot of options and look at alot of other options because you dont wanna go fixing those sleeves if other things are the culpreate and not the sleeves, that would be maknig you do alot of work that is unneeded you know?

what kinda head gasket have you used with that block? and you said you had used it through a few builds... have you always seen the leakage or only on the last build with that block?

 

do you know your block is step decked? what kind of headgasket are you using?

 

wow it looks brand new... who sleeved the block it looks very nice and thick too... but it does seem to have a slight degree in it like it twisted a lil bit during install??? was it straight before..??

 

darton sleeves are nice and thick. i had my block built by the same people the OP did. and my sleeves had gaps between them and were a little crooked. didnt say anything and decided to just put it in and see what happens. car runs pretty damn good but its pushing coolant because they step decked it without ever saying anything to me. which, if i had known they were doing that i would have said hell no, i want a flat deck. so now i have to get a copper headgasket (which are a pain in the ***) and possibly o-ring the head.

i spent a **** TON of money on this build and didnt expect to have to spend even more money once it was all said and done





off topic: does anyone know if ill still need o-rings with my copper headgasket if my block and sleeves are step decked?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by camp1320.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow it looks brand new... who sleeved the block it looks very nice and thick too... but it does seem to have a slight degree in it like it twisted a lil bit during install??? was it straight before..??</TD></TR></TABLE>

No that is how it looked when I got it, thats why I never thought anything about it. I would rather not say who it is until I completely figure all of this out. I don't want to bash any companys or anything but it just so happens when I posted this up the other guy on here just pmed me and said did "so and so sleeve your block" out of the blue and it happened to be the same company. I am just hoping that is was a coincidence and not a on going problem with them. I guess this thread will tell if more people bring this up from the same company. I want to give them a chance to fix it though before I go bad mouthing if indeed it needs fixed.

 

i dont think your sleeves need fixed. them all being a little crooked to the side like that is just a cosmetic problem. it should hurt anything..

but the stepped deck is what i would be worried about.

 

And yes the pistons were deburred.

 

thats how most of them are, look around it helps lock them together and remove any ability to move side to side at the top of the sleeves

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soccerking3000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats how most of them are, look around it helps lock them together and remove any ability to move side to side at the top of the sleeves</TD></TR></TABLE>
So you are saying this is a process or design to keep them from moving?

 

it really is just a cosmetic thing... like the other poster said if you look around there are alot of sleeves that look just like urs

 

Well then I guess it will be fine then, I have to pull the head here soon so I will see what everthing looks like inside again and go from there, thanks for the opinions guys. If anyone else has anything to say or points to make please do so.

 

Your fine. I've seen a lot of sleeves like that.

 

they are like that on purpose because there is a slight amount of clearance from sleeve to sleeve for installation, and then that clearance is removed by turning each sleeve slightly to lock them in place, there shouldnt be any gaps between the sleeves

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .EnzoSpeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is this a D-series motor? If so, it's a common thing. My z6 motor did that. The sleeves went in straight, but over time, they started to twist. I sold the shortblock after a year or two of boosting and my sleeves looked exactly like yours. I showed it to Earl and he said it happened rather frequently in D-series motors and that it had no apparent side effects, other than aesthetics.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its a non vtec B series block with a rigged knock. That much I can tell

 

Its a B18b bottom end for Ls/vtec. Back in the day I was using a knock sensor but now with the F.A.S.T. its useless. This is before the motor was ever ran at all after sleeving.

 

just slip the headgasket on and see if the cylinder holes line up

 

If they were put in straight, decked, then bored - all when they looked like that - they should be fine. Worst case scenerio the bores would be offset from the crank (on both x/y axes) by the slightest amount. The only way they could occur tho is if they were made to fit perfect, then the twisting allowed them to space themselves out a bit at the very top. Thats barely 2 degrees of twist though, so movement would be tiny.

If it really bothers you, there's two things you can do to prevent any more movement. First, you'll essentially post the block, except they'll act like the dowel pins between the head and block. As long as they allow free movement in/out, they won't affect the cylinder's shape from thermal expansion. Unless the sleeves moved from that original picture after you tear it apart, it probably won't do much at this point since they have been heat cycled and locked in good.

The second thing you can do is have the machine shop check the bores from top to bottom, as well as any deviation from the crank centerline. If they aren't perpindicular front/rear and side/side from the entire deck (assuming that's perfectly flat), then they may have moved after the initial boring. You'd just have to find the centerline and bore them big enough to get them back to 0, which couldn't be more than 1mm. Use this as an excuse to go 2.0L.

<U>Anyways, if the late Earl L. said it was common in a d-series and affected only aestectics, then I believe that.</U>

 

Well those pics show it as 81mm, it is now 84mm on the current build. The machine shop that done it didn't have any problems or throw any red flags and they are a very reputable, I am assuming they would of said something if they thought there was a problem. Then again they are not very big on honda stuff, more like pro street cars. That is why I come to you guys.