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gavbriggs

Well-Known Member
now as some of you might know my engine in the 4.0 nis buggered, slipped liner(s) now i have found a guy to to do the machine work, my stepdad and his mate )who builds bikes and thier engines, rebuild, all that sort of thing) have offered to do all the disassembly and reassembly(well within thier collective skillbase) now my question is, do i go with the tophat liners and rebuild or do i go for a new(second hand) engine that can be heard running and to all intents and purposes is ok but as we all know you cant tell til its gone and at that point its too late!

i need a full parts list, so i can get prices/compare
i need a list off all parts that are a must and the ones that are worthwhile changing but not critical.

i need suppliers for THL's

and finally i want to know exactly how top hat liners are fitted and exactly how they take out the old liners as i want to ensure the fella knows what he is talking about. does the block have to be welded or sealed if its got any sort of cracks or will the liners seal up all 'leaks' how do liners seal to prevent oil and water mixing or are the pressures not significant.

ideally i suppose i want a belt and braces walk through of how exaclty it will be done so i can quizz the fellas involved to ensure its all done well!!

i'm not buying a coscast block as i dont want to go spending £1500 on a block!!
 
I wouldn't bother rebuilding just buy a coscast short engine of ebay job done as all the machine work will really add up in £
 
the machine work is not going to cost very much at all, i have contracted a fella(stepdads brother in-law) so its very good mates rates! just want to be sure of how they are doing it as i dont fully understand it and cannot check the work, not that i dont trust him he's time served and has done loads of machine work on engines and other things, it me needing to know!! you know how it is when something niggles. if i buy an engine i will be waiting for the day it gives in!!
 
Hi Gav

I feel for you on this dilemma as I am not sure what I would do either, do you know how much its going to cost with your stepdad doing the work? ie the parts etc and any other work that needs to be done?

I have tried to find a supplier for you for the top hats and must admit its a bit difficult in the UK tried a few things on the internet also known as top hats, cylinder sleeves, bore liners and quite a few places in the states do them and also a manufacturer in india came up but nothing really in the UK yet, to sell them seperately only places doing the whole job of a refurb.

I have to admit though I know you don't want to spend the £1500 on the coscast block but they do seem a very good option I presume once you have this block you wouldn't get any problems again with the head or the liners after reading about them.

Mind you I suppose you could pick up a cheap one from ebay if available or you could find a cheap RR with a good engine and just take the engine out and sell the rest after stripping what other bits you needed.

Let us know what your going to do.
 
i could get several engines but as alot of engines suffer the same problems then i could end up needing several.

a coscast engine would be ideal but at 1500 quid its probably gonna double the cars 'worth'. again i could get another car but then how do i know how the engine will survive. i want a new/refurb engine of some description. i can get the full set of 8 for around £180, i'm also assured my machinist can make them himself, bespoke, if we can find the material at the right price. i intend to do as much as is financially viable but i dont want to end up with a car worth £1500 and an engine thats cost me £5k. got to be realistic here. the work on the assembly side will be for peanuts so that isnt a worry. the machine work will be for a 'drink'

even at £1500 you only get block (with or without liners?) crank and piston sets. the rest will still need to be rebuilt from the old engine and then the rest of that refurbed as i go!! so its gonna push the cost up to £2-£2.5k.

while all the assembly is going on i'm also thinking about refurbing the body and interior. if the engine is in effect brand new i might as well go the whole hog with the money i can(hopefully) save on the engine build!

if i only had my own garage, engineering firm and interior trim shop, oh and a spray booth and auto electrician!! better keep checking lotto tickets eh!
 
well obviously the top hats work then, what engine have you got? did you rebuild yourself?


i'll be contacting westwood in the morning, cheers for link
 
I fitted a coscast to mine it comes as a short engine including cam and timing gear all assembled i just rebuilt my heads and rebuilt when you compare the quality of the castings the coscast is in a different league the original is very rough in places no wonder they slipped. As i have said else where on hear i changed my engine by mistake :eek: after quite a few experts told me it definitely would be slipped liner on installing my new engine 30 miles down the road same problem turns out my vapouriser for LPG was shot! i still have the old engine it ran beautiful before removal has done 86k with lots of history any one interested?:eek:
 
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