just picked up a used 94 b18b ls motor. everything looks clean, motor turns over free no scoring on cams or any journals. even the cyl walls have no real signs of wear or damage.

however the inner part of the sleeves is sitting just a tiny bit higher up than the outer part. i dont think ive ever noticed it like this before. is it normal or what.. take a look








i did pour a bunch of oil in each cyl and turn the motor over to coat the cyl walls, and you can kinda see it in the pics so that what that is.

is this motor in some trouble or does it look like a fresh decking will allow me to use it? i wouldnt want to put any power through it its possible the headgasket wont seal properly

 

I would probably go with a fresh decking. If not the head gasket could have a sealing problem. If your gonna build it then of course have it checked. Was the motor a strong running motor/any over heating problems previous?

 

Looks like it had headgasket issues, deck the block and with that water in th bores it will need at least a hone to freshen it up.

 

no idea, i got it for 200 bucks off craigslist. it doesnt have any obvious signs of excessive wear or piston expansion wearing on the intake/exhaust side of the sleeves. i was told it was out of a rear ended teg with 70k miles. im likened to believe it. the inside of the head doesnt look real old and is sporting a nice light gold color, and the cyls look good. when i bought it the head was already off and there was no headgasket

 

A good clean motor shouldn't have any coloring of the aluminum in the head or crankcase but a light golden isn't to bad when there are dark stains is when it was an abused not well maintained engine

 

yeah, but honestly even oem motors that are very healthy get that golden brown color on them after a few years. you're right though about that dark color. either really old or not well maintained.

any other opinions? again id hate to deck the motor and have it happen again because there is a problem where the sleeves seat or something of that nature