Sleeved block


T

t3gav

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Nov 10, 2011
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Just curious, how many of you have a sleeved block? Seems quite common in the states but finding someone here is harder than I thought. Any horror stories...? This will be 84mm NA not boost btw.
 
I am currently waiting for my block coming from the states. Looked into getting it done here and after advice from a very well respected member on here, decided to go for a built block from the states. Main reasons being a) the machine shops that will actually do the work here will probably only sleeve a few blocks a year where as the guys in the states are doing a few blocks a week, and more importantly b) the cost of getting a block, crank, darton sleeves, carillo rods, je pistons, acl race bearings, all machine work carried out, all assembly work carried out, shipped from Florida and import tax paid... for me was cheaper than doing the same here. I don't have a total figure for doing it here because I was being quoted well over 2 grand just to have the darton sleeves supplied and fitted and that was me supplying the block myself. The short block from the states with the designer internals and a GE head gasket delivered was about 3400.
 
robthedoc said:
I am currently waiting for my block coming from the states. Looked into getting it done here and after advice from a very well respected member on here, decided to go for a built block from the states. Main reasons being a) the machine shops that will actually do the work here will probably only sleeve a few blocks a year where as the guys in the states are doing a few blocks a week, and more importantly b) the cost of getting a block, crank, darton sleeves, carillo rods, je pistons, acl race bearings, all machine work carried out, all assembly work carried out, shipped from Florida and import tax paid... for me was cheaper than doing the same here. I don't have a total figure for doing it here because I was being quoted well over 2 grand just to have the darton sleeves supplied and fitted and that was me supplying the block myself. The short block from the states with the designer internals and a GE head gasket delivered was about 3400.
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That's not a bad price for all parts, machine work, assembly and delivery.. does that include them supplying the block?

There seem to be a lot of shops in the US doing this sort of work to a very high standard compared to the UK and there are so many guys running big spec sleeved builds even in their daily drivers where as there are probably only a hand full in the whole of the UK and Ireland

Where did you choose to buy the short block from?
 
I spoke to CPL who can supply Darton Mids and fit for around £1370. I was looking at ERL or GE in the states though. Did they supply the block @robthedoc ?
 
That price does include them supplying a core b18c1 GSR block and crank @SPek9 but they charge 600 usd for this. I could have supplied my own but if you take it that 600 dollars is roughly 400 pounds then take the cost of shipping the block and crank to the states it works out cheaper for them to supply the stuff. It also guarantees that they will have a block they are happy to work with, I was worried if I send a second hand block and crank and they find fault with it I would be right up the creek. My block was originally a different spec however when I put the spec I was looking for to IPG-parts they said for an extra few hundred dollars I would be as well to get this....

http://www.ipgparts.com/store/Darto...CP-Pistons-Carrillo-Rods-1000-Horsepower.html

It's went up in price a bit since I ordered it. Currently shows 4% off but when I ordered it was 11% off. Machine work is done by mazwox racing engines, their website is just porn. Like cnc machined alloy 2jz blocks.... oooft. If your bored and want to give your eyes a treat have a look http://www.mazworx.com/

I looked at CPL (and others) also but the figure actually came to a lot more after I had worked out what was included and required. I had a form they sent me and after totalling up all the options it was expensive. However I'm not saying it's not a good price for the UK. This is similar to the turbo kits from the states, I'm using a go-autoworks pro kit with a gt3076r turbo. The fabrication work in the manifold etc is outstanding the workmanship is stunning and the materials are absolutely top quality. A life time guarantee on a custom tubular manifold. However when you take the total cost of the kit and deduct the cost of the brand new garrett turbo, tial wastegate and bov, intecooler, pipe work and fittings, the cost of the hours of labour that go into the fabricated parts is actually unbelievably low. To have the same fab work carried out here to the same standard with the same quality of materials would, at a guess, cost more than double possibly even treble. Although in our favour is the exchange rate, our £££ are their $$$$.
 
I don't think I'll need a line hone or pro H rods so should be a bit cheaper :) anyone actually using a sleeved block on the road?
 
A sleeved block on the road will behave the same as a stock block on the road?
 
I'd agree with @Murray sleeving it will make it stronger and allow for larger bore sizes but these aren't really things that would have an impact on the way the car drives.
 
I know that, I've just heard so much crap about sleeves sinking etc, trying to get feedback from people actually getting sleeves fitted in the UK and actually driving their cars. Most 'builds' on the internet never get finished or driven lol.
 
It depends who does the work but when I looked into sleeving my B18C to increase the capacity close to 2000cc, I discovered that sleeved blocks are better suited to Race cars which will not be heat cycled every day like a road engine is, and this due to head gasket problems

The head gasket issue may not happen in all cases and it shouldn't be as much of a problem when the bore isn't opened up as much

Most people who run race engines probably don't mind replacing the head gasket once a year or every 2 years if they can and doing a refresh while they are in there to keep their expensive motor tip top


For a road car you could fit good rods and pistons, some nice cams and a bit of head work to get the most out of it with the standard sleeves. I weighed this up a while back with my B18C and ended up going with a k20 swap because of the potential that the engine had without having to modify the bottom end... Although saying that, I will look into modifying the bottom end in the future in the search for more power
 
t3gav said:
I know that, I've just heard so much crap about sleeves sinking etc, trying to get feedback from people actually getting sleeves fitted in the UK and actually driving their cars. Most 'builds' on the internet never get finished or driven lol.
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I'd heard similar about sinking etc and it was advice from my tuner regarding the machine shops in the states having the experience in sleeving the blocks regularly so they can ensure that the machine work is done to a very high standard and this should eliminate issues like you mention.
 
I think they've got the process down to a fine art now especially in the States it seems, I just thought there would be a lot more people with sleeved blocks about. Maybe I'm over thinking as usual lol.
 
I used to daily drive a darton sleeved 85mm high compression (13.0:1) motor which made 200whp with no issues at all, it was Wazers old motor and the machine work was done by AME Motorsport which I would highly recommend.

Standard EK9 Valvetrain with a port polished head so with a larger cam it would easily make 250 at the fly and that was dynoed on a heartbreaker dyno (dynamics roller) the torque produced by the increased capacity is amazing think that made around 170 ftlbs of torque at the fly running on vpower fuel.

For the costs of the above you would be able to K swap with change in your pocket which would be much cheaper to replace if it went bang, running stupid compression ratios ruined it for me constantly worrying where the nearest shell garage was!

I used to have the account name Joe so for admins I'm not a troll honest!!!

Oh and the noise this thing made was out of this world, sounds nothing like any other! Sat collecting dust now!!!

Joe
 
This would be going in a b series metro guys so not your simple bolt in k swap....
Much more work involved for gav to k swap.
 
robthedoc said:
I'd heard similar about sinking etc and it was advice from my tuner regarding the machine shops in the states having the experience in sleeving the blocks regularly so they can ensure that the machine work is done to a very high standard and this should eliminate issues like you mention.
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Exactly, this isn't guess work with the likes of Mazwox, they sleeve hundreds of blocks a year!!
 
Joek4 said:
I used to daily drive a darton sleeved 85mm high compression (13.0:1) motor which made 200whp with no issues at all, it was Wazers old motor and the machine work was done by AME Motorsport which I would highly recommend.
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Didn't the sleeves sink in his block back when he first built it? Not uncommon with Darton sleeves but in most cases a simple solution of just decking the surface of block does the trick.
 
t3gav said:
Just curious, how many of you have a sleeved block? Seems quite common in the states but finding someone here is harder than I thought. Any horror stories...? This will be 84mm NA not boost btw.
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You may aswell go 85mm if going this route, most aftermarket sleeves are fine up to 86/86.5mm bore so enough material left for a couple of over bores if required.
 
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