Sleeve A20 Block ?

[87preludeA20A3]

Does anyone here have anything bad to say about sleeving these blocks of ours.. Long story short i was boring my motor and i f'd up one of the cylinders. I was just going to sleeve it and bore the sleeve.. what do you guys think?

[EricW]

That civic that was on ebay a while back that was making 320hp at the crank had a sleeved 13.5:1 a20. If they could do it with that much hp i don't see that there whould be a problem doing it with your motor.

Link (http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57716&highlight=civic+a20+swap)

[MessyHonda]

how big of a bore did you go?

[AccordEpicenter]

why would you sleeve an iron block?

[rjudgey]

if you fuck up a cylinder, i've got one thats damaged from a piston pin that came out only way to fix is to sleeze it.

[RobT5580]

I never got far with the A20 but the B20A has sleeves that can be replaced. I had it done on my B20A and its not like doing darton sleeves or aftermarket sleeves for that matter. But then again A20's are easy to come by so you have to weigh your options.

[hotdoghogie]

sleeve it and get hi comp pistons and if u can afford it then your going to have to afford premium gas too...lol.. but u can expect bunches of power gains =]

i had this planned at one point

[87preludeA20A3]

Ok cool, sounds like i'll sleeve it. I'm getting the sleeve for free. And my school just bought a 45,000 dollar bore machine they are letting me learn how to use for free also.

[DDRaptor]

can i go to your school???

[88Accord-DX]

I will say, being in school & learning. Take your block to an automotive machinist or you'll be rebuilding another engine trying to jack around sleeving it yourself.

[snoopyloopy]

sleeve it and get hi comp pistons and if u can afford it then your going to have to afford premium gas too...lol.. but u can expect bunches of power gains =]
i had this planned at one point
premium only costs $1-2 more per 10 gallons than regular. and now, with the gas prices so freaking high, $2 more is less of a chunk of the total than it used to be. when gas was a dollar, then $2 could get you 2 more gallons. now, $2 will get you 2/3 of a gallon at most. and the higher gas gets, the more economically justifiable premium becomes because the difference represents even less of the total.

[88Accord-DX]

I'm in the buisness of rebuilding engines & so forth, but copied this from a site that better explains the tight tolerances of sleeving a block.


The first item of business in the kit is to install the cylinder sleeves. I recommend that the machine shop install these, but, if they didn't, here is the best way to do it. First, stick them in the freezer for a couple of hours. This will cause the metal to shrink just enough to slip into the cylinder bore a little easier. Place the block on a hydraulic press and line it and the ram up with the sleeve. Place some cylinder sealer around the upper end of the sleeve, install an adapter on the top of sleeve which will mate to the ram and quickly but gently press the sleeve into the bore. Don't stop midway to answer the phone or talk to the dog as the natural heat from the block will quickly cause the sleeve to expand thereby increasing the risk of breakage. Only stop when the sleeve is flush with the top of the block. Go ahead and repeat the process with the other sleeves. If, like most ill equipped barn shops, you don't have access to a press, you can use a block of wood and a large sledge hammer. Make sure and get an extra set of hands to hold everything reasonably straight; and tap lightly but firmly with the hammer and watch your hands.

Now that the sleeves are in place the next step is to match the pistons to each cylinder. Take the manual and locate the piston to cylinder wall measurement. Generally it should be around .004 to .007 sidewall clearance. Then locate an industrial supply house (or a very well stocked automotive store) and purchase a very long feeler gauge, commonly called a ribbon gauge. Get at least two sizes, one about .002 and another about .004. Intall the piston in the bore and see if the thinner feeler gauge will slip in next to the piston. The proper fit is when the ribbon gauges can be pulled from between the piston and sleeve with a specified inch-pound pull using an inch/pound scale. Of course our shop didn't have the scale so we gauged it with a mildly firm pull; the feelers slipped freely out of from between the piston and cylinder sleeve without binding. You should check the piston at the top and at the bottom of the cylinder for proper clearance in case the sleeve is tapered. (Don't assume that if the piston freely falls through the bore that the clearance is adequate. I did that with an engine kit once. Turned out that after the engine ran for four or five minutes the piston heated up enough to expand in the sleeve and freeze up the engine.) If the clearance is inadequate the cylinder bore (or sleeve) will have to be honed and then rechecked. Take the time to do it right.

[87preludeA20A3]

Thanks for that... That helps out alot.. I'll try and do it right the first time....