Inertia
Well-Known Member
There is a thin and thick sleeve for the 340. There may be some hope there, if the thin sleeve was used..
Can this be fixed?
- Thread starter MJD323
- Start date
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Krooser
Building Chinese Free Engines since 1959...
Pressure test the block....that should tell the story...
The sleeve is a totally moot point here. Yall don't seem to get that. THE BLOCK is where the problem lies. Sure, he can have the sleeve removed. Probably see the damaged area of the block a little better. But I think it's obvious the block has split from the original bore in that area. THAT is the issue. And quite obviously the block is not solid there, if that's where coolant is getting in.
Perhaps the block is SUPPOSED to be solid there, but we all know because of differences in castings, each block is not the same. Can you say core shift?
To the OP, I can tell you Reeves did not install that sleeve. They may have well missed that it had a sleeve, but that's not how Steve did his work. I hated that they have gone out, because as of yet, I have not found another local machine shop that I trust and that's reasonable enough to use.
IMO from what I can tell by the pictures, you probably need another block.
About Wheelers........I have ever in my life heard anything good about them. This is both before they went out of business and after they reopened. They were in business in Macon for a LONG time.....like back in the 40s. Then "sometime" in the late 80s maybe, they went out. Now they are back.
All that said, I used them firly recently to pressure test a cylinder head I had questions about. They did a good job. Showed me the head was good. I may use them again, because my direct experience tells me differently than what I have heard......but I have heard bad things a LOT about them.
I do remember when they were open the last time.......and I was working as an alignment tech at a local tire chain, the owner was there getting tires on his personal truck. He remembered me from working at a local machine shop when I was a kid. Offered me a job. Said he'd pay me 350 a week. I was making over 1K a week as an alignment tech. I just smiled and walked away. lol
Perhaps the block is SUPPOSED to be solid there, but we all know because of differences in castings, each block is not the same. Can you say core shift?
To the OP, I can tell you Reeves did not install that sleeve. They may have well missed that it had a sleeve, but that's not how Steve did his work. I hated that they have gone out, because as of yet, I have not found another local machine shop that I trust and that's reasonable enough to use.
IMO from what I can tell by the pictures, you probably need another block.
About Wheelers........I have ever in my life heard anything good about them. This is both before they went out of business and after they reopened. They were in business in Macon for a LONG time.....like back in the 40s. Then "sometime" in the late 80s maybe, they went out. Now they are back.
All that said, I used them firly recently to pressure test a cylinder head I had questions about. They did a good job. Showed me the head was good. I may use them again, because my direct experience tells me differently than what I have heard......but I have heard bad things a LOT about them.
I do remember when they were open the last time.......and I was working as an alignment tech at a local tire chain, the owner was there getting tires on his personal truck. He remembered me from working at a local machine shop when I was a kid. Offered me a job. Said he'd pay me 350 a week. I was making over 1K a week as an alignment tech. I just smiled and walked away. lol
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In the event that it turns out that the substandard sleeve job is not the culprit, do look at the condition of your timing cover, they can rot out and cause grief too !
Update...
After taking the block to Wheelers and I believe just about everyone in the shop coming out to take a look, they all agreed that:
1) As many of you stated, the sleeve was set too deep in the block. That left the register too thin on the one side, and thus the small piece of the block chipped there. They also said that barring the sleeve being too deep it was one of the best sleeve jobs they had seen
2) The block is solid there and no way for water/oil to leak in that location. Also, with 95% of the register still there, once the head is bolted on, the sleeve is still sandwiched in place if you will and it should have no effect.
I found that the original water/oil issue was being caused by the intake not fitting properly. It was a bit frustrating to install, but I certainly didn't think it was as far off as it turned out to be. After a lot of measuring, I determined that the intake needed to be milled 60 thousandths on both intake surfaces. The intake is a brand new Edelbrock AirGap and is being bolted to brand New Edelbrock RPM heads, so that only leaves the block. It must have been milled at some point in its long career. Richard White at Extreme Racing Engines in Macon did a wonderful job milling the intake for me. Once the intake was milled, it sat on the heads and all the bolts fell into their holes and I was able to finger tighten them all the way down. Something that certainly didn't happen prior to milling.
So fast forward to today, the motor is reassembled and put back in the car. I have fired the engine and performed the initial break in for the cam. All went well and the motor runs better than it ever has. No water and oil mixing!!
Thanks to everyone who took their time to read and respond with your opinions. It is truly appreciated....
After taking the block to Wheelers and I believe just about everyone in the shop coming out to take a look, they all agreed that:
1) As many of you stated, the sleeve was set too deep in the block. That left the register too thin on the one side, and thus the small piece of the block chipped there. They also said that barring the sleeve being too deep it was one of the best sleeve jobs they had seen
2) The block is solid there and no way for water/oil to leak in that location. Also, with 95% of the register still there, once the head is bolted on, the sleeve is still sandwiched in place if you will and it should have no effect.
I found that the original water/oil issue was being caused by the intake not fitting properly. It was a bit frustrating to install, but I certainly didn't think it was as far off as it turned out to be. After a lot of measuring, I determined that the intake needed to be milled 60 thousandths on both intake surfaces. The intake is a brand new Edelbrock AirGap and is being bolted to brand New Edelbrock RPM heads, so that only leaves the block. It must have been milled at some point in its long career. Richard White at Extreme Racing Engines in Macon did a wonderful job milling the intake for me. Once the intake was milled, it sat on the heads and all the bolts fell into their holes and I was able to finger tighten them all the way down. Something that certainly didn't happen prior to milling.
So fast forward to today, the motor is reassembled and put back in the car. I have fired the engine and performed the initial break in for the cam. All went well and the motor runs better than it ever has. No water and oil mixing!!
Thanks to everyone who took their time to read and respond with your opinions. It is truly appreciated....
moper
Well-Known Member
Good outcome. The bottom 1/2" or so of the bore is usually solid iron. So that wasn't your water leak. Go have fun!
Marcohotrod
Well-Known Member
Happy for the good outcome, and some of us experts have learned not to junk a good block based on a little photo
Great news!
MOPAROFFICIAL
Oogliboogli
Hey expert, the sleeve is still set deep, verified even.
What are you disagreeing with exactly? The block fill idea based on the notion it might be leaking there? You can go through other threads now and hit the x on all those who didn't guess right. LoL
I have a sleeve that wasn't pressed all the way in my 340, it dropped .010 below the deck in the miles it run... no gasket issue...just happen to find it on a go through.
Wheelers is barely running on three legs. I wish them well. I have taken them a few things in the very recent past. They do good work, but I am afraid they won't last long. They have come back after being out of business for almost twenty years. They used to be one of the biggest engine remanufacturing plants in the southeast.
Marcohotrod
Well-Known Member
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Isn't that more the result of the deck cut?
Magnum blocks start life at .015 less deck height than LA blocks. If you go thinner on anything else, (gasket, decked block or heads cut) things get worse. Putting EQ 318 heads on a magnum block STARTS you off at .015 too short on deck height for a manifold machined the the exact size.
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