Thread: Sleeve block back to standard bore, what do you think?

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My thought is that after you put the 400 in its going to look exactly like a 350 anyway.

You are correct, I can't argue with that. Some things you just can't disguise. A guy once asked me if my car was one of those new PT Cruisers.......guess I should have told him no, they never made a PT cruiser with a 350. My luck though, right after I said it one would have pulled up in the parking lot with a 350 in it LOL. Either way, I've still got to get away from the 350 so I can use my sportsman II's I've been sitting on for a while. I really wanted to sleeve the 400 because I have access to the equiptment to sleeve the block myself, someone to help me do it right, and I already have the sleeves. So at this point there would be no cost to have standard block. That still doesn't justify it though if it's a pile of junk when it's done. Oh, one of you talked about sleeves being loose? How? Aren't they installed a slight interference fit? Wouldn't they have to shrink to get loose?

Originally Posted by 35chevy

You are correct, I can't argue with that. Some things you just can't disguise. A guy once asked me if my car was one of those new PT Cruisers.......guess I should have told him no, they never made a PT cruiser with a 350. My luck though, right after I said it one would have pulled up in the parking lot with a 350 in it LOL. Either way, I've still got to get away from the 350 so I can use my sportsman II's I've been sitting on for a while. I really wanted to sleeve the 400 because I have access to the equiptment to sleeve the block myself, someone to help me do it right, and I already have the sleeves. So at this point there would be no cost to have standard block. That still doesn't justify it though if it's a pile of junk when it's done. Oh, one of you talked about sleeves being loose? How? Aren't they installed a slight interference fit? Wouldn't they have to shrink to get loose?

if you look at my photos you can see how to do one or how i do them here are the steps were you bore short of going thru .i did a post how to fix a iron block or something like that .i use some press and drive them in theres many steps to do this if you never bored any blocks with the boring bar you may want to run some blocks thru to get use to the machine . first off the bat i check i am cutting true 90 i like to know the deck is true thru the main and cam housing i use the bhj tru deck to get this my bar centers 90 off the oil pan and main bore .you may want to true deck it first just do a small clean cut then deck to were your want the deck for finsh size on the deck when all sleeves are done . if needed i shim my block cradle to get less then 002 on the deck .then i bore a 060 cut and check with my bar mic is on the money to my out side mic so i know how much to adjust it so they read the same. then you bore to less 002 to size of outside of sleeve .for a press fit check all the size of the out side of the sleeves they have some tapper to them. i use dry ice to shrink the sleeve you want to keep the sleeve wet the dry ice works better this way to keep it wet i use alcohol with the dry ice it can not have any water in it before you start you need a driver and a big hammer if you fast you should not need the hammer but it good to have one any ways if there in the dry ice for some time . they should fall in the hole i use a bit of 620 loctite at the botttom of the hole and file the botom of the sleeve so its good and flat make sure the bottom of bore is clean so it will go alll the way down and seat in the step you will need a cutter to cut a step to face a 90 in the bottom of the bore you many need two cutters a boring cutter std and a facing cutter for sleeves. i run the face cutter down by hand to clean the / angle step will be in the bottom of the bore from the std boring cutter . then the bore will be like this L with the sleeve facing cutting tool . i do not use the face cutter for the finsh bore size i go back and set it 002 smaller then the finsh bore size with the bar in auto feed it will kick out before the bottom this is were your step is you want to check this on your first cut and set it so it will kick out before bottom .i hand crank it till you get your L and stop i use some red marker on the botom so when gone i know i have a good clean step . if you drive the sleeves you want to watch how you drive them that you do not nick up the housing of the main bore i keep the block on the fixure and back off the hold downs and put two old main front and back bearing in the upper and reclamp to keep from getting dented or cut in put all in and take bearing out and reclamp face the sleeves you may want to bore and hole and sleeve one hole at a time if you do all one side of the block in the bore holes you can get some move ment on the next hole with stock block