Ductile Sleeving Rb Engine Blocks

[33GTRV]

As the title suggests, after destroying 2 cylinders and the deck in an n1 block, I'm looking at a sleeve and grout job on the next engine. I'm chasing REAL WORLD FACTS about the pros and cons. I've searched the subject and it's very inconclusive. I don't need to hear about joe blow making 1000 on a stock block because I don't give a frack, I'm looking for torque and peak torque and lots of timing mean biiiig cylinder pressures.

Thanks in advance, and happy new year

[StevenCJR31]

I dont know if there is a lot of info on what you are asking , if an engine is built/tuned/maintained correctly then sleeving and grout shouldnt be needed

[KiwiRS4T]

Actually if you Google there is a lot of reading on sleeving RBs with generic sleeves or OS Giken or Apexi . Grout filling of RB30s in is common and there are a coupe of threads on doing it in RB26s as well so I guess you just need to price some sleeves, the machining and decide whether its a better road than a new N1 block. There is a variety of cylinder wall coatings you can do as well so there is plenty of choice. If you want real world experience check out Rips big power engines. I don't think he's into sleeving but he certainly uses grout.

But as above if you are destroying engines I would think assembly and tuning play a bigger part. At what KW and revs are your engines breaking?

[r33_racer]

Where are you located mate?

[33GTRV]

Central qld. People have conflicting information on the job, and I can tell you that an n1 block isn't going to do it, because I'm not doing it again. I'm not keen on forking 10k on a rrr block to be a gunie pig either. As for properly tuned and maintained, don't get much better than a new one. And I still killed it. I know of some companies that have done it, but they aren't too keen on telling the secrets, and that's understandable.

[StevenCJR31]

^^ even a brand new block and Internals can be destroyed by poor tuning/assembly/maintenance

I understand that you dont want to be forking out for a new block etc but there must of been other issues that killed your engine so quickly

Why did it let go?

[infamous_t]

A bit more in there than just sleeving, but should be a good starting point for you.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/434511-rb34-24u-rb26-800cc-open-deck-engines-v3/

[33GTRV]

The cause of failure was core shift. I'll be bands awing the block up to have a look. Sonic was ok pre assembly.

[XRATED]

... yeah your in billet block territory if cyl pressure is your point of failure.

[r33_racer]

From what I have seen the strongest factory block out there is the RD28 block. Which is due to all the extra ribbing it has cast into it. The factory bores are not really that much thicker/stronger like alot of people have said in the past. Ultimate budget setup would be RD block with some darton sleeves in it and grout filled to within an inch or two from the top to allow coolant around the top of the bores and access to head without too much stuffing around. That's without actually going to a full billet alloy block which is getting into serious money territory.

That's a good starting point to hold atleast 1500+ HP.

Just what sort of power/torque are you talking about here roughly?

[33GTRV]

Power was at 500kw at its peak and peak torque was a touch over 1100ftlb

[GTRNUR]

Was your N1 block using the stock bore size?

Where exactly did you crack the block?

What fuel are you using?

[33GTRV]

Stock bore all the way arount the top and all the way down the bores. E85. This all happened at 5950 rpm. Peak torque was at 5800 and peak power was at 6600 and thats as far as it really got.

[GTRNUR]

Where did you crack the block?

Was it while tuning the car, or launching it?

[Ben C34]

That's awesome power at those revs, would have been an absolute animal.

[33GTRV]

Happened on the dyno. Was ramping to tune above 6600 when it happened. Looks like we will be doing a half fill and sleeve on a new block.

[black bnr32]

I'd like to see pictures of the failure, if you have a chance.

[33GTRV]

A lot of people want to lol. It's a pretty popular block. If I can sell pics I might recoup the cost lol!