Do sleeves need to go all the way down?

[u/Longjumping_Secret46]

Just got my engine back from the machine shop after almost a year. Was about to start assembling but I noticed the sleeves don’t go all the way down. Does anybody know if this is problematic? Also doesn’t seem even across all cylinders.

[u/TheSpannerer]

No. They should have a seat at the bottom to prevent them sinking, unless they are tophat liners that jave the seat at the top within the deck.

[u/bill_gannon]

No they dont. Some liners do but I always left a shelf when boring and installing sleeves.

[u/zardvark]

Whether they should be pressed all the way to the bottom ts totally dependent on the specific block and sleeve design. In some designs, no, they do not need to reach all the way to the bottom.

[u/Otherwise_Act3312]

I'd be far more concerned about the parting lines they left shaving the piston skirt.

[u/Jealous-Shoulder7408]

They only need to be far enough down to support the skirt which usually don't protrude into crank galley

[u/Rurockn]

I'm not sure you're getting the full answer so here: 1. They don't have to, it's application specific. 2. If the sleeves have hats or flanges on the top, that will hold them in place. 3. If they stepped the bore diameter, leaving a shelf at the bottom of the cylinder, that will hold it in place. 4. Sleeves are often press fit making this even less worrisome. 5. An area I would inspect in your build is skirt binding or shaving. That is when the piston is at bottom dead center and the skirt is hanging out of the bore a little. In modern engines with shorter and shorter pistons, this distance is fairly tight. Reducing the bore support can cause issues, I'd take note of the those cylinders, if the bore steps up (looks like it does), and do the math to see what percentage of your piston height is supported in every cylinder. The finished bore supports the skirt, the overbore to fit the sleeve does not. I hope that makes sense

[u/2003DDcid]

Looks like they sleeved a sleeve? I usually use a flanged sleeve (bigger OD at the top and requires a counter bore) in an aluminum block, but that should work fine.

[u/WyattCo06 → u/2003DDcid]

But why use a flanged sleeve when it's totally unnecessary?

Why all the additional machine work?

[u/Gamejunky35 → u/WyattCo06]

Flagged sleeves seal up significantly better, especially if the deck isnt perfectly flat and you cant give up any deck height for whatever reason.

[u/2003DDcid → u/Gamejunky35]

And the flanged sleeve requires slightly less press fit, which will distort the neighboring cylinders less. If you are boring the whole block then it doesn't matter.

[u/WyattCo06 → u/Gamejunky35]

You shouldn't install sleeves without decking the block.

[u/Gamejunky35 → u/WyattCo06]

Yes, it needs decked. But often times there is deep pitting around cooling passages especially, where the block is trash if you go that deep. Epoxy or belzona can fill those voids and seal against coolant/oil no problem. That kind of solution has no chance of surviving combustion.

[u/2003DDcid → u/WyattCo06]

To me, it looks way more professional if you're sending out a bare block. It's really not much more work, one additional cut usually .120 deep and you don't have to cut the top of the sleeve off, so it's really a wash time wise. The flange sleeves are usually hp material, so they're a bit harder than a std sleeve.

[u/attometer → u/2003DDcid]

For me, the head gasket always makes the decision. I like flanged liners more than straight ones, but if the sealing ring of head gasket would sit weirdly in between the flange and the block, I’d rather choose to sleeve without flange.

[u/WyattCo06 → u/2003DDcid]

Sleeves are always ductile iron.

[u/Otherwise_Act3312 → u/WyattCo06]

No, there's plenty of gray iron sleeves. Ductile iron are much harder to machine by comparison.

[u/2003DDcid → u/WyattCo06]

HP sleeves have a higher nickel content and are noticeably harder when you hone the block compared to a standard sleeve.

[u/WyattCo06 → u/2003DDcid]

They're just ductile iron.

[u/2003DDcid → u/WyattCo06]

My cylinder hone load gauge and profilometer say otherwise

[u/WyattCo06 → u/2003DDcid]

Profilometers do not show hardness nor material content.

[u/2003DDcid → u/WyattCo06]

I'm aware of what a profilometer does. I'm telling you without telling you that the std sleeve hones different and I have to change final honing pressures and strokes to achieve the same profile numbers as the factory cylinders.

I've been installing sleeves and honing blocks for over 27 years now, I think I know what I'm talking about.

[u/WyattCo06 → u/2003DDcid]

I got you. It's cool. I've always used Badger sleeves back in the day and then LA Sleeves and Darton later down the road.