I would like to know if anyone on the forum with darton sleeved engine DE 3.5 has any problems with building preassure in the cooling system. be advise that we have done all the test with regards to leakage from the heads and they come out negative. I have tried to purged the system but still my coolant hoses get stiff with preassure. I'm about to use my darton sleeved engine as a patio table base. By the way the engine has been built with the best of the best except for the dam darton sleeve block.

 

I think it is pretty well established that sleeving a block isn't the best way to go for most. I have seen a lot of forum members have issues with sleeved blocks..... I believe it has to do with the combination of metals. Eaching having different properties in terms of expansion related to heat.

Good luck, but I think the table base might just be a realistic use for the block

 

What type of numbers are you trying to achieve?

Sleeves and the VQ haven't had the best history so far....

 

who machined your block and installed your sleeves?

 

So you are saying you are getting to much pressure in your coolant system? Water under pressure will raise the boiling point. Your radiator hose should be stiff, when the cooling system has pressure.

 

If you want to run a low pressure system, run Evans NPG+ (max 7 psi). Great for sleeves IMO because of the increased susceptibility for hot spots around the headgasket.

 

didn't alberto sleeve his motor?

 

My first time around was a machine shop cluster****. The didn't hold down the sleeves properly during machining of the bores so the sleeves raised up and then the block deck was machined flat. It all looked fine until I tried to run the engine, once I ran it the sleeves settled to where they should have been and whenever I tried to run the car hard I would spew coolant out the overflow and get tons of air in the system.

Unfortunately only remedy is to disassemble back to bare block have them make sure the sleeves are down and redeck the block and hope you have enough left in the block or you will then have issues with the rear timing case not lining up with the heads properly, I barely made it when I rebuilt it after that.

Also make sure they open up the cooling hole that is partially blocked now by the sleeve, my machine shop missed that the first time and I am amazed the coolant made it into the block

 

I have 15,000 miles on my GTM sleeved block with zero issues

 

and now you jinx'd it..................

 

thanks man lol (I knocked on some wood), I really beileve the whole sleeve issue is how they are installed.

 

My first sleeve motor failed at 9000 miles

I went out for a run and noticed I Was getting headlift, boost was dropping as I approached redline. Then splash coolant all over my hood, windshield, etc

That was it for that motor...

This 2nd motor is the same block redone, new pistons, same rods, new bearings. Sharif put it together not GTM.

The major difference is this time running Evans pressureless. Unlike last time using Evans like coolant. My radiator cap is mod'd from an RX-7, no pressure in cooling system. I have around 3000 miles now and the overflow hasnt moved a c*nts hair up or down.

I recall the first motor by 4000 miles the overflow had been sucked dry and filled twice by then. This motor also doesnt have a $hit ton of metals in the oil analysis that I have sent out. So far so good. Im happy thus far considering Im running much more boost, rpm, and power now.

Good luck OP!

 

who installed the sleeves? the install is the critical part

assuming you've tried running it without a thermostat, or trying a new thermostat?

have you purged the heater core?

how long has the engine been in the car? at what boost levels? details?

 

We have sleeved MANY MANY blocks over the years and have had ZERO issues.

If you are going to sleeve your block, send it to Darton and have THEM install the sleeves. NO ONE ELSE !!

 

^+1 I wish I had done that

 

Thats what I was gonna say. From the past most (not necessarily all) sleeved motor failures became attributed to the install the sleeves. Everyone thats sleeved is running Darton sleeves, so might as well have them install them, even if its going to take a couple extra weeks.

tom

 

if this topic was stickied like it should have been you would have your answer,but......it was......

 

I disagree entirely about sending to Darton, unless you are referring to Darton West Coast. I don't know if their east coast install facility (ERL) has corrected their practice of Darton sleeve installation but we had two out of two VQ failures when we gave them a chance two years ago. After speaking with Darton they said West coast and East coast use two different finishing methods. Since that time ERL has asked multiple times to regain our business, but I will not send another block there and take another chance with them due to the time and money involved with fixing any mistakes/problems. Our current machine shop (now moving in house) has never let us down including many daily driven sleeved VQs to our drag car at 1000+whp.

It is sad to hear the bandwagon against sleeves which came about after a number of sleeve failures which I feel confident were due to faulty installation/builds and not the sleeves. For anyone under 500 or 600 horsepower I don't see any problem going unsleeved, but above that for any period of time is still uncharted territory and taking an expensive risk. Even Intense Power, who holds the unsleeved horsepower record, only uses "roughly 600whp" on the street/track and says,
"You know that Han's widebody G doesn't have a sleeved motor. While it can achieve 900+whp on a non-load based dyno such as a DJ, it would be foolish to run the car at that power level while under load on the track and expect the stock sleeves to withstand repeated 1/4 mile passes."

 

^^ thanks for the info Hal.

 

+1 sleeves are appropriate for max power builds where rigidity makes the difference and refresh cycles are short,but to sell them to the street crowd is and was a recipe for disaster.

i can only speculate the motivation behind it's former popularity.