Anyone ever resleeve a cylinder?

[jgmotto]

After 200,000 trouble-free miles on my 89 L98 without ever opening the engine, I did a complete rebuild. Valve job, new pistons, rings, bearings, oil pump, ZZ-9 cam, roller-rockers, big-mouth manifold, large tube runners, ported plenum, 52 mm TB, PROM, etc. It ran great for a week, about 150 miles, and one day I went to start it and broke a valve stem, busted the piston and punched a hole in the cylinder wall with no warning. I have two questions. First, what could have caused such a failure? Second, can the cylinder be re-sleeved successfully or am I looking at a new block here?

 

[ProEMTPFF]

busted the piston and punched a hole in the cylinder wall with no warning. I have two questions. First, what could have caused such a failure? Second, can the cylinder be re-sleeved successfully or am I looking at a new block here?

Answer to #2.........start looking for a new block.

 

[iron cross]

{1} A valve train or related part failed. Exactly which piece, hard to tell. But the geometery may be incorrect on the rocker arm to retainer and valve stem, causing a release of the valve keepers in the retainers. Or the heads were incorrectly assembled. {2} Yes a quality machine shop can resleeve your block. Very common proceedure.

 

[G Winter]

I would look for a good used block . sleeving costs plenty , block might acutally be cheaper . I would have both heads completly dissasembled and checked before reinstalling them . Did you install new valves? might be a good idea if you didn't .

 

[taegdh]

Agree with SCAV, if you didn't put in new valves this is the time to do it. You didn't mention whether you had any head work done. I've got to think a little porting and polishing, along with a new set of stainless valves and associated hardware would be the way to go. It'll take time to do it and do it right.

If you want to do it the "easy" way look at the GMPP crate motors. I know they are bit pricey, but you get a warranty with them. That would give me a little piece of mind. You could probably get one which fits your needs.

Lots of luck

 

[GreyGhost]

Do not be concerned about resleeving a cylinder. It will not hurt a thing. We have put sleeves in our racing engines and have not lost anything.

 

[jgmotto]

Thanks to all that replied. As usual in issues like this, there are some differences in opion on what to do. It's good to hear all sides and have these ideas to make a decision on. I'm pretty well convinced to try to re-sleeve the cylinder. Most people I talk to seem to think it is a common repair and completely dependable. As for the reason for the failure, I believe that there was some damage done to the valve when the engine was first started. A polylock on the roller rocker loosened up and the valve was clicking pretty loudly. Even though I quickly re-adjusted the rocker, it goes to show how critical it is that the valve lash be correct. The keeper did not come loose. The valve broke in two places, just below the keeper and at the valve end. It's hard to say which came first. I'm still interested in your thoughts about replacing all the valves. The stock valves are stainless steel. I'm not sure why they would need to be replaced. Do you think there is a higher incidence of valves failing due to age? Incidentally, here is a photo of what happens when a valve comes in contact with a piston.

 

[jgmotto]

Sorry, here's the photo.

 

[pci_raid]

I agree with Greyghost. Never had any issiues at all. I haven't sleeved any Hi-po motors but have done a few everyday drivers like the Iron Duke and a few on a couple mopars. It works great and is very common if done correctly and the block is fine other than the damage to that cylinder. I'd have the block checked for any other damage before performing the sleeving.

bob