Hello,

As many of you already know, I recently detonated my engine which caused the number 4 cylinder to have zero compression. Well this weekend the cylinder head was removed from my car and a piece of the piston <a very small piece> broke off and was evidently ejected out of the exhaust port. That is the good news. The bad news is that evidently the block also took a beating as well. I have a gash in the number 4 cylinder wall that is about 1/4 of an inch tall and about 1/8 of an inch deep. So now I am going to have to have the sleeve replaced.

My question is can this be done? I mean is it possible to replace the sleeve in the block and it be as good as new? I am planning on purchasing a set of diamond racing 10:1 pistons and rings in the car, and I don't want anything bad to happen like the sleeve falling out, which I have heard of happening with other engines.

Any input from anyone having knowledge on building these engines would be greatly appreciatedd to. I have a good friend of mine who is doing the engine build, but he hasn't been into many ecotecs.

Thanks guys,
Vince.

P.S.-I have pictures of the damage to come. Stay tuned...

 

yes buy sleeves from GM. I bought mine and replaced all 4 in the build im doing now. so yes they can be replaced. just make sure you have it done at a machine shop that can press out the old ones and press in the new ones correctly

 

Did you get them from your local dealer? If so do you have a part number? And why did you replace the sleeves you have now?

 

You have a gouge in the sleeve or gouge in the block? Sleeve cna be replaced. GM even has a tool for sleeve removal and install that works pretty slick.

 

Wow, how do you know this? Where can I get these items?

Later,
Vince.

 

As stated above, this can be done by a GM shop. You don't have to remove the engine or take it to a machine shop. GM Goodwrench has an Ecotec specific tool that can remove and replace the cylinder liners. It's actually pretty damn cool. You will only need to resleeve the one cylinder.

Expect it to be expensive. You can save money if you can bring them the car with the disassembly already done. Have the head, oil pan, and rod/piston combos removed before you get there to save big labor dollars.

Ofcourse, hone ALL the cylinders before installing your new pistons.

 

since you're building it up, are you planning on any other major mods? turbo with high ass boost? spray?

also, why are you raising the compression? wont that be bad for knock?

 

One of the GM techs on here posted a pic of it. Really cool looking. I have no clue if you can rent it or not, but like Halfcent said, you can probably take it to GM Goodwrench shop and they can do it for you.

 

You can get them at any GM dealer. I do not have the part number but thanks to someone on here all you have to say is Cobalt Piston Sleeve and the number will pop up into their computer. They are supposed to be like 150 a piece but i got mine for 101 a piece cause im cool like that. I had mine done at a machine shop.

I raised the compression because I will be doing 20+ psi out of the blower, I will run high octane and I have Water/Methanol to reduce Knock, so I wont have any knock at all.

 

When you raise boost you are supposed to LOWER compression.

 

Just wondering why your using stock GM sleves? I thought there were better ones out here. Just wondering.

 

Well, without seeing it 1st hand, you may be able to send it off for the 'bowl' to me resurfaced. It does sound rather deep, which would a different story then.

 

Stock sleeves are good for a couple reasons.

First, they are perfectly fine for HP levels well over 400.

Second, he only has to replace one instead of all 4.

Third, he retains the stock bore, which makes piston replacement easier due to larger selection. There are replacement liners that retain stock bore, but some don't.

 

I thought our cars had problems with re-sleeving, I forgot the thread. Apparently not.

 

Here are the pics of the damage....its pretty bad so brace yourself...









I don't think it's even worth taking the block to the machine shop to have it checked...the gash is about 1/8" inch deep. I can't believe how the piston broke in a smooth line like that. My friend who is helping me greatly on this project says in his 13 years of turning wrenches, he's never seen anything like it.

Later,
Vince.

 

Ouch, I am hoping mine doesn't look like that when I take my head off. I know for sure I have a blown headgasket, but there is also pressure getting into the crankcase so I am thinking I'm gonna see a cracked piston or bad rings.

I am keeping the sleeves in mine and having a machine shop overbore it then get pistons to match it. Figure it would be cheaper that way, I'm getting a pretty good deal at a shop.

 

Been there, melted that. Welcome to my world

 

Well I do plan on going turbo one day, when someone makes a kit that I feel like is going to reliable.

To answer your second question....just because you raise compression on an engine does not mean that the knock is automatically going to go up. On ANY engine when you raise the compression it just means that you have to have more fuel to combat knock. For some reason I feel like that no matter what you do if you have a car that is fully tuned to its maximum power potential, you are always going to have problems with knock. I think alot of it is the fact that supercharged engines have alot more "load" then turbo engines do. The engine is having to combat so many more factors than turbo cars do its not even funny. Not only does the engine have to provide enough power to spin the blower but then it's having to deal with massive amounts of boost created by the smaller pullies that many owners put on their cars. Then there is the problem with heat. I think that our blowers with small pullies produce ALOT more heat than even the pourest of turbo setups do. There is just to much mechanical happenings that the boost has to undergo before it gets to the motor. Thats the reason that if you look at all of the cobalts that are running SERIOUS horsepower are running turbos, because they can get by with alot more as far as reliable horsepower than you can with a supercharger, simply becaus theres less "load" on the engine.

Just my .02 cents

Later,
Vince.

Boy I just love all of the feedback I am getting in here....brings a tear to my eye, really....

Bump!!!

 

I don't know what's it's like there, but I tried to buy a GM tool from GM one time. it didnt go very well. All I got was a whole bunch of the old run-around, to finally come to the fact that they just won't sell tools that are made specific for GM (or rent for that matter). FYI for anyone out there looking for oddball tools, spx/kent-moore is the place I got mine from. they're the people who make the tools for GM. Fast service, and not insane wait times like you would have if you orderd from a snap-on/mack truck (or something of the like). http://www.spxkentmoore.com/

 

Well the local GM dealership does not have the tool. So I guess its gonna be up to the machine shop to see if they have a tool to take the old one out and put the new one in. Otherwise I guess I'll have to buy the tool. Should be getting some money to start ordering parts in the next few days.

Parts list:

Diamond Racing 10:1 pistons with both coatings
ARP Head Studs
Cometic head gasket
Clutchmasters FX400
JBP Stage 2 Triflow cams
JBP Valve Springs
Neutral Balance Shafts(need to find out if I really need them)

The engine was pulled today and this week it will be getting torn down and sent off for cleaning. Big thanks to my friends back home for doing all of the work. I'll keep everyone informed about the build...should be interesting.

Later,
Vince.

 

Bump!!!

 

Unless you are spinning your engine over 7000 RPM, you will not need neutral balance shafts.

You can hold off on the valve springs and cams until after your build if you want. This will allow you to rebuild your engine and get is running normally again without having to spend as much money initially. Valve springs and cams can be done anytime from on top of the engine easily while it is installed in the car.

 

Thanks Halfcent for the comments. I have deicded to give up my group buy purchase on the cams/springs. Even though I know they are awesome, and I can get them for a good deal, the new billet cams still cost almost a grand. I decided to use that money on HP Tuners and a good used laptop, thanks to my friend Glen at C & G Computers.

Here is an update on the parts used in the build:

Diamond Racing 10:1 Pistons
Total Seal Chromoley Rings
Cometic MLS 2.0 Head gasket
ARP Head studs
Bully Stage IV Kevlar/Carbon 6 puck clutch system
Updated Intake manifold gasket
GM Stage 3 Endplate(easier to do it now rather than later)
HP Tuners MVPi Pro Interface
Good used laptop
About 100 bucks worth of new bolts for the engine
One new GM sleeve

The machine shop is installing the new sleeve and is going to deck the block so that the sleve will line up correctly with the rest of the deck of the block. They are also honing all of the cylinders for chromoly rings. The head will be lightly surfaced as well to insure that there is correct sealing with my new head gasket. My static compression ratio should be around 10.2 to 10.3:1 whenever its all said and done.

Also, I have a friend who is very talented when it comes to polishing stuff that is going to polish my valve cover for me this week. Should look nice when its done. I'll post up some pics of his work so I can show off the bling factor...lol.

BIG THANKS goes to my friend Tony Bush who is doing the engine build. Without his expertise and experience in building engines, none of this would be possible!!!

With any amount of luck, we should have everything put back together next weekend.

And that's about it so far, I'm sure that there are some things I have forgot but it has been REALLY busy. I have yet to be able to drive my car this year, so I have certainly learned that patience IS a virtue.

Comments and questions?

Later,
Vince.

 

I am currently going through pretty much the same thing. Blew the headgasket, but no piston damage like we thought. I am pretty much doing to do the same as you, except new rods as well. I'd like to wait till someone has rods out for the LSJ, but if not, 2.2 rods and pistons it is. Plus new valvetrain. Still waiting to hear back from a couple places about custom cams.

Good luck, can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

Thanks man, it has been a long time coming and now that all of the parts are finally getting here, I am getting excited!!! I think that the increased compression ratios alone should get me to 300 whp!!! We'll have to see what the dyno says after break in.