Question, can a 302 block accept a 4.0 sleeve with a 1/8” wall thickness, this will require the cylinder to bored out to 4.253” any concern with exposing the coolant passage?
Dave, boring that much sounds scary, to ignorant me. Maybe our experts are still mulling this over.😳 What is the reason you are sleeving this 302?
~Charley 1954 Chevy 3100 with 235 “Bud” Follow along in the DITY 1963 Chevy half ton stepside short box 230 1954 GMC 3 ton 302 And several more Chevy camper and work trucks 1979 1987 1996
The only time I use a 1/8" wall sleeve is if there's a hole in the cylinder wall. Yes, a 302 will probably handle a sleeve that thick, but a 3/32" wall sleeve will accomplish the same fix with less material being removed from the block. That only requires boring the block to 4 3/16". I usually bore for about a .001" press fit when installing sleeves and cold soak the sleeve in dry ice and alcohol before installing it. I've been doing it that way for a little over 40 years. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I bored the cylinders intending to use sleeves with a 3/32 wall thickness, however one cylinder did not clean up. Think I have a plan, I have ordered a 1/8 wall sleeve, and will turn the od down on the lathe. Thanks for the replies.
It shouldn't matter if the cylinder didn't clean up when bored for the sleeves (I think that's what you're saying.) Unless there's a gaping hole in the bore, the sleeves will take care of minor imperfections.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Interesting, as I am new to installing sleeves.. I scoured the forums as well as YouTube, looking for advice. Regarding the interference fit, there are a wide range of methods. Some recommend boring the cylinder .001” under size, the manufacturer of the sleeve “Melling” recommends up to .005” on a large sleeve. Some just pound then in. Some use a press, some warm the block and freeze the sleeves. I developed my own method, so far so good.
Years ago salvage liners were quite popular. We ran quite a few of them. We always used 3/32 sleeves. We used them for everything from cracked cylinders to big gouges in the cylinder. We just made sure we had a good press fit. Especially at the top and bottom. The government sleeved a lot of 302 engines back to standard. I have one of them torn down at the moment. It is nice to have them because standard pistons and rings are much more available. Before I get back to a GMC I need to get an old Y-Block out of the way. It is border line junk .006 to .008 over. I am debating as to use old Continental file to fit rings and knurl the pistons or junk it.
Back when I was building "mini-stock" race car engines based on the Ford 2300 CC 4 cylinder overhead cam engine, the sneaky trick was to bore the original cylinder walls completely away and install 1/8" wall 4" diameter sleeves. We ran a very light weight Chevy 350 piston and H beam connecting rods. As long as we could get a good press fit at the top and bottom 1/2" of the block, the engines ran just fine. We put a 1/2" thick layer of high temperature epoxy at the bottom of the water jacket to help seal coolant out of the crankcase. Of course, when one hand-grenaded at 9K+ RPM, there was nothing left to rebuild! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Good to know that it’s Not The End Of The World if you expose the coolant passage. Some of us err on the side of caution. As I have said before there is alot of information out there about sleeving cylinders, you have to make a judgement call, particularly when you are learning.
It can be very educational to take a sawzall to a junk engine block and see just how thick the cylinder walls actually are in different areas. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Thats why it concerned me when I discovered the engine in my wrecker was .060 over. I went ahead and cut the ridge, honed it, knurled the pistons a little and called it good. It has been running like that for 15 years. The irony is about a year after I built it, I found a 371 Olds which is the block GMC used with standard cylinders and almost no ridge. I bought it for a spare, but I have never used it.
