Actually, the sleeves are made of better material than the original iron in the block. Some machinists claim it weakens or distorts a block to sleeve all the cylinders, but some of my all-sleeve blocks win races regularly, and show no measurable difference on a dyno run to a non-sleeved block. I usually bolt up a "stress plate" on the block in place of a head before boring/honing, which minimizes any distortion, and skip around, boring/sleeving two cylinders on one side, then switching to the other cylinder bank. In a production shop, it would be prohibitive on the labor cost, but I do a block a little at a time between more pressing jobs. Over a couple of weeks' spare time, I've got a standard-diameter block built up, that can be used whenever I need one. Considering that some of the engines I build are in the $15,000.00 bracket, a little time spent sleeving one is negligible in the overall cost factor.
Jerry
