Cylinder Bores

Glad to hear you've recovered.

Is this a Land Rover motor (petrol or diesel) or one of the various swaps (Holden red blue black 6/ford 3.3 or Izusu).

Are you attempting to do an inframe rebuild?

The used to be a mob called Star Bores who were a mobile service, theyed come out onsite to bore and resleeve motors at around $100 cylinder. More suited to larger motors with reasonable access. I can't recall if the LR motors are sleeved or not, I know the Perkins of that era are and could be rebuilt inframe.

With that amount of wear I'd probably just pull the motor out and rebuild it. You've commited time to get you to where you are now may as well do it properly.

It's the ROI that is the clincher, do you intend on keeping it or are you just wanting to get it running enough to make it someone elses problem?

LTP's (Long Term Projects)are great but they never make financial sense except that you own them outright. I know Ive got a few LTP's myself..

As a general rule, if your finger can catch the ridge from ring wear, it needs a bore job. If it is minor ridge, you can get away with a ridge remover, and just using standard size rings again. But if you do not remove the ridge, the new rings will shatter when the new rings slam into the ridge. How hard are usable replacement blocks to find> The cost of boring, and new pistons drives the rebuild cost above the cost of a used engine in most cases here. Good luck.

If you can do most of the donkey work yourself, ie pulling the motor out and stripping it down to a bare block. It isn't so bad cost wise to get the machining done especially if it is a common motor.

If it is a sleeved motor then it's even easier to push the sleeves out and fit new ones (quick hone and good to go).

The block may have plenty of meat in it for a rebore + 30thou unless someone has been there before then its a bore and sleeve back to standard bore which is dearer.

Finding a good used block/motor for anything over 10 years old is getting hard due to the rush to cash in on the scrap iron boom(before the bottom fell out of the market due to the Carbon Tax) We didn't get cash for clunkers as such here but lots of punitive state legislation to kill the old car trade. Any motor that is in good condition is sold for a premium even the grey import used japanese stuff is getting dear.

Thanks guys, the engine is the Landrover 2 1/4 petrol engine. K Yes, I think that I will have to bite the bullet, and go for the full Monty. Thanks again, Norm.

If it is only one cylinder that has the high wear, it may be more practical financially to bore and sleeve just the one cylinder. This would be rare, but if it is your predicament, this option might help.

Hi guys, I think the best way to go, is a short engine from Turner Engineering in the UK. I,ve Sussed it out and I think that would be more economical than getting it reconditioned in oz, particularly in view of the A$ being so high at the moment....! Actually, I've already bought a cylinder head from them and was impressed with the quality, and th price Does anyone know if short engines are available in Oz..? I seem to have struck a Dead end in that regard. Norm.

my personal opinion is do it right and have some peace of mind with it. There's a reason standard overbore sizes start at .020 over. If one is worn .015 it would make sense to do it right unless as someone else put it, just getting it running to get rid of it. I've rebuilt numerous engines, mostly small and big block Mopars and have a 440 stroker (493) on the stand now if I can ever get around to finishing it. Sort of took a back seat to getting over lung cancer and running again so I can relate to the health thing. Good luck whichever way you decide to repair it.

Hurry up, and get yourself back together again. Then you can finish that 493, and send it to Normbourne.

As bonus, you get three weeks there to assist with the install. Sounds good to me.

Thanks guys for your advice, I placed the order yesterday for a UK short engine. It will take 6 weeks to get here, so I'll have to get my finger out in removing the old unit & make preparation for the new one..! Thanks again, Norm.