Some local guy is selling a darton sleeved b18a1 block. He says its the 300 series. Ive been looking up and reading on dartons website n other sites as well. Darton makes 2 types of sleeves dry n wet. This local guy is selling one and i dunno if its dry or wet. He is asking $500 for the bare block which is a good price. It is 81.5mm bore. Someone help me out about this block. Here is a link with pics of where its for sale. Look at the block n tell me what u think. Does the block have a block guard or is that with the sleeved block?

http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/ho...ngs-clips.html

 

Is there a way to tell if anythign is messed up? how do i tell if its darton? Im meeting up with him by where he lives so i cant take the block n the seller to my machine shop to have my friend see if it was installed right, etc

 

it looks like dry sleeves and a block guard to be honest, imo that would be the reason its so cheap, assuming its sleeved at all

 

here we go, found a good comparison for you

http://hondamarketplace.com/showthread.php?t=2352535

 

Yea thanks found out its dry sleeved. Like how do i know for sure its sleeved? Its a drive for me to go just look at it. In that pic does it look legit?

 

It's a block gaurd - poorly installed at that. Only way to tell would be to measure the sleeve. It also depends on which sleeve they used... I would just forget about that and look for something else.

 

U think it would be a bad buy? Im getting this block with bnib supertech 9.1 84mm pistons, eage h beam rods, mirco polished crank, arp headstuds, new oil pump, water pump. All for $1150 not a good buy?

 

if i get this block im going to bore it out to 84mm to fit those pistons is that safe? too thin where it can crack? aiming for 400+

 

yeah they look like factory sleeves to me. you can see where the iron sleeve insert its inside the aluminum casing on the factory ones. it appears as grey rings around the sliver on the top of the sleeves

 

cough up the money and buy a Real sleeved block, GE, Darton, LA, Benson or ERL, I had a block like that before and was unhappy with it. Went to real sleeves and never looked back.

 

^^^ +1.

I saw that deal and was about to jump on it and decided to just wait a couple of weeks and go with a brand new one. Not busting the guy, but as much money as i put in to my build thus far I rather KNOW what I have.

 

So what u guys are saying that this block is not even darton dry sleeved? From the looks of it i thought it was. This car is just my daily driver and not a race car. Only aiming for like 400+. I just wanted a decent reliable block. I heard a lot of good things about the darton dry sleeves.

 

I wouldnt buy it for the sheer fact that it has a block guard installed, but its impossible to tell what sleeves it has from that retarded tiny pic he posted

 

Stock sleeves will typically handle up to around 450whp reliably with a great tune. Sleeving a block is highly recommended either way. The integrity of the dry sleeves all lies in the install. As with everything bad install = problems. The deal you posted is decent, I will give you that, but it seems shady. Dry sleeves are the hardest thing to "do right" on these engines. (Wet sleeves aren't that big of a deal - it just requires the proper equipment to do so - which is $$$$$$$.)

 

Would i be able to check if its done right? The block is bare but im getting all those parts with it and sending it out to the machine shop to get it bored n all that so he will tell me if something is wrong but i dont want that to happen. He seems legit and has a good rating on the local forums. Came out of a running car. Also would it be ok to bore this out at 84mm? Ive read up that it leave .083 wall left n thats enough to handle 500+ or should i just leave it at 81.5? Only reason i want to bore it out at 84mm cuz thats the pistons he is giving me.