Sleeve It and Save It - Technical Article - Engine Masters Magazine

Dave measures the bore with a precision bore gauge after each pass of the boring bar to keep track of the progress. Actual size is recorded and compared to the machine measurements for material removal to ensure there are no discrepancies.

The block isn't bored all the way through, but a step is left at the bottom of the bore to serve as a register, positively locating the sleeve.

To ease the installation, the liner is chilled in a special apparatus with CO2 gas, causing it to contract.

Installation of the sleeve is done with a driving fixture and a big mallet. The sleeve is driven in until it is solidly against the register at the bottom. Sealant is used inside the block and around the sleeve prior to driving it in.

When the sleeve bottoms against the lower register, it will stop abruptly. The tone or ring of the hammer blows will distinctly change when it is fully seated.

Next, the block returns to the boring bar, this time to have the excess sleeve material above the decks cut down to within a few thousandths of the deck surface in preparation for surfacing.

Then the cutters are changed and the cylinder is bored to size, in this case bored in preparation for final honing to the original .040 inch over dimension.

Our block was carefully measured and shimmed so that the surface cut could be held to a minimum, and then machined to bring the top of the new liner dead even with the block surface.

The sleeved hole looks as good as new.

The last operation is to finish hone the bores. The sleeved cylinder needs to be honed to size, but the adjacent cylinders also need honing to correct for distortion caused by the sleeve's press fit. We had Dave torque plate hone all of the holes while the block was in the machine.