Oh Oh Cracked Liner Time
Oh Oh Cracked Liner Time
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schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Monday 29th December 2008
quotequote all
I think I have a cracked liner - if this is confirmed what are my options?

Can I reliner them with top hats?

Or can I just get a cheap 4.0 litre block and put the current 4.6 crank in it to make it a 4.6?

AntonyJ

5,254 posts

312 months

Monday 29th December 2008
quotequote all
Yes, about £800 for top hat liners.
Obviously on top is the cost of rebuilding the engine,(gaskets and the like)

Uncle Fester

3,114 posts

239 months

Monday 29th December 2008
quotequote all
TVR Power has some new blocks.

Dependent upon which crank journal size you have, and therefore if you can reuse your existing crank, this can be a good way forward.

spend

12,581 posts

282 months

Monday 29th December 2008
quotequote all
Blimey Stuart I thought you had an engine rebuild not so long ago? Someone was doing TopHats for £700 IIRC, seems to be £100 a single liner but you get discount for a job lot wink Theres a couple of engineers in Cov, and 1 in York (handier for you unless you have left Gods country) that have done them I believe.

If you want Gimme a shout & I'll tell you where the threads are with the info (don't think its on here?).

Filos Hippos

485 posts

263 months

Tuesday 30th December 2008
quotequote all
I can honestly say that Holts WondarWeld did solve the problem with my car . . .

Car suffered from new and bought it from first owner who didn't inform redcard me on the problem (only 9OOO km)

ETA: had to repeat the procedure once . . . Now 28000km . . . Touch wood!


I thought that if this didn't cure the problem it would not harm either . . .


If problem persist I'll upgrade to newly built 5.O or 5.2.party Anyone experience with these blocks?


thegman

1,928 posts

235 months

Tuesday 30th December 2008
quotequote all
Filos Hippos said:
I can honestly say that Holts WondarWeld did solve the problem with my car . . .

Car suffered from new and bought it from first owner who didn't inform redcard me on the problem (only 9OOO km)

ETA: had to repeat the procedure once . . . Now 28000km . . . Touch wood!


I thought that if this didn't cure the problem it would not harm either . . .


If problem persist I'll upgrade to newly built 5.O or 5.2.party Anyone experience with these blocks?
What were your symptoms?

Filos Hippos

485 posts

263 months

Tuesday 30th December 2008
quotequote all
Symptoms:

- losing coolant-water (unable to spot leaks)
- running hot
- when hot: idle problems (rpm going up and down)
- COx in coolant
- problem solved when tipped up with water but only for very short period
- ...


Regards,

Filip

schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Thursday 1st January 2009
quotequote all
spend said:
Blimey Stuart I thought you had an engine rebuild not so long ago? Someone was doing TopHats for £700 IIRC, seems to be £100 a single liner but you get discount for a job lot wink Theres a couple of engineers in Cov, and 1 in York (handier for you unless you have left Gods country) that have done them I believe.

If you want Gimme a shout & I'll tell you where the threads are with the info (don't think its on here?).
hehe Yeah I know, it's not the luckiest car in the world. I did have a rebuild from a 4 litre because of.......a cracked liner!

£700? That's not bad if it cures this problem, I have been looking at just putting a RR 4.6 in off Ebay. Where is the engineer in York?

Thanks

spend

12,581 posts

282 months

Thursday 1st January 2009
quotequote all
I'll dig it out & post for you... might not be this evening though (but everyone seems shut at the mo anyway hehe).

Top Hats won't go anywhere, and are sealed at the bottom, so porosity is solved as well! I'd consider hacking the jacket and run them wet if I ever had to have it done anyway hehe

TCS was wanting to sell his 5.0 if you were wanting another engine, don't know if he sold it (or changed his mind?), you could ask.

rev-erend

21,624 posts

315 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
I'd just add that people here are talking about 2 specific problems :

1) Cracks in the material behind the liner - this allows water to pass slowly up the block to the cylinder head and into the combustion chamber .. so symptoms are slow water loss and possibly even the lambda sensors failing (MIL light) as they hate anti freeze.

2) Liner slipped - this is were the liner in not properly located at the bottom of the block and eventually moves up and down with the piston ..
symptoms - sounds like a tappet or cam shaft is on its way out.. running with it like this for long would be a good way to scrap a block.

If anyone does go the 'Cos-cast' route - probably worth asking if they have top hat liners .. as I suspect they do not - so the problem may well still exist for them - long term.

schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
rev-erend said:
I'd just add that people here are talking about 2 specific problems :

1) Cracks in the material behind the liner - this allows water to pass slowly up the block to the cylinder head and into the combustion chamber .. so symptoms are slow water loss and possibly even the lambda sensors failing (MIL light) as they hate anti freeze.

2) Liner slipped - this is were the liner in not properly located at the bottom of the block and eventually moves up and down with the piston ..
symptoms - sounds like a tappet or cam shaft is on its way out.. running with it like this for long would be a good way to scrap a block.

If anyone does go the 'Cos-cast' route - probably worth asking if they have top hat liners .. as I suspect they do not - so the problem may well still exist for them - long term.
From what I've read I think they do, or at least they've addressed the problem.

Mine was misfire on startup and for first 10 miles (water in combustion chamber), masses of steam from exhaust for about 5 miles, rapid water loss, loads of water in oil.

Took it apart praying it was headgaskets, and they looked as new (only recently rebuilt), no burn marks, water marks, rust marks etc. So it's got to be either cracked heads or slipped/cracked liner. I can't believe that a cracked head could lose so much water in a short space of time without leaving some evidence, so I'm guessing the water is going straight through the liner(s). Yeah I should get both sent off to be tested, but it's more expense and I'm already a bit disheartened with it. It currently has v8developments stage 3 heads on, so my first plan was to just stick a RR 4.6 in and sell the heads to recoup some money, but if tophats are £700 I can stomach that and try and kill two birds with one stone. I might have another look at the block to see if I can see a liner out of place, nothing was apparent before.

This car seems to wait patiently for you to fix one problem and immediately develops another hehe Oh, I had a 6 month spell once when everything was fine!

rev-erend

21,624 posts

315 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
The slippered liner is the easiest to spot - as the liner literally slips below the block deck height.. by about 1/8 inch..

If it's a cracked behind the liner then that is usually spotted as one of the pistons will have been washed clean with the liner sometimes dropping by between 5 and 15 thou (inch) but not always.. also the liner will no longer be a tight fit because of the crack ..


spend

12,581 posts

282 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
Stuart, you can try Performance Unlimited in York, seem to recall someone was pleased with their work (get the balancing done whilst you're at it IMHO), but I haven't personal experience of them wink

http://www.performanceunlimited.co.uk/Machine%20sh...

schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
spend said:
Stuart, you can try Performance Unlimited in York, seem to recall someone was pleased with their work (get the balancing done whilst you're at it IMHO), but I haven't personal experience of them wink

http://www.performanceunlimited.co.uk/Machine%20sh...
Cheers spend will check them out.

Although now I am thinking AJP v8 scratchchinbiggrin

spend

12,581 posts

282 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
schueymcfee said:
Although now I am thinking AJP v8 scratchchinbiggrin
Engine transplant or Car transplant? confused

schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Friday 2nd January 2009
quotequote all
spend said:
schueymcfee said:
Although now I am thinking AJP v8 scratchchinbiggrin
Engine transplant or Car transplant? confused
Engine, and I presume box as its the LT77 on mine... it's got to be worth considering......

rev-erend

21,624 posts

315 months

Saturday 3rd January 2009
quotequote all
schueymcfee said:
spend said:
schueymcfee said:
Although now I am thinking AJP v8 scratchchinbiggrin
Engine transplant or Car transplant? confused
Engine, and I presume box as its the LT77 on mine... it's got to be worth considering......
It certainly won't be as cheap as repairing the block..

g20v6

118 posts

234 months

Saturday 3rd January 2009
quotequote all
I've got an ajp V8 4.2 in the workshop that I'm going to put in the classifieds when I get round to it. The engine is complete with all ancills but no clutch, ecu aswell. Mail me if youwould like any more info.

Regards Simon

schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Sunday 4th January 2009
quotequote all
rev-erend said:
schueymcfee said:
spend said:
schueymcfee said:
Although now I am thinking AJP v8 scratchchinbiggrin
Engine transplant or Car transplant? confused
Engine, and I presume box as its the LT77 on mine... it's got to be worth considering......
It certainly won't be as cheap as repairing the block..
biggrin

schueymcfee

Original Poster:

1,577 posts

296 months

Sunday 4th January 2009
quotequote all
Had a closer look today, there is no sign of a slipped liner, only noticeable difference between each piston is that they are all black apart from one which appears silver or clean scratchchin

Got some photos which I will post in a bit