Chongo
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An interesting concept in Land Rover design was when they decided to incorporate steel liners into the aluminum cylinder block without a lip on the top of the liner. By being machined in place with no lip on the top to decrease the possibility of liners slipping, these are straight sleeved liners. Being made of steel the expansion rate of steel is around 6 parts per million +/- while the expansion ratio of aluminum is around 13.1 parts per million +/-. In this formula the outer aluminum wall adjacent to the steel liner does not move at the same ratio. Depending on the finish on the outside of the liners, and the finish machine work in the block will decide the stability of the liners. The finer the finish the more stable the liner will be. Also the firm placement of the liner to bear against the main bearing bulkhead bottoms the liner out and secures it better.
When this engine needs a head gasket the best thing to do would be to deck the block and the heads. I know this requires a lot more work but this also explains a lot of trouble others have experienced with this engine due to the differences in materials.
When I rebuilt my wife’s engine I replaced the liners……….. About $80.00 per bore to eliminate the old liner and $90.00 per liner plus another $60.00 per liner to trim the bottom to fit and install. It costs around $1,900.00 just to change the liners. I feel it was worth every dime. No problems and we are getting around 16 m.p.g. we fitted the new steel liners and finnished the bore to use the old pistons that only had 29,000 miles on them. I know it’s expensive, but it is the ultimate cure for dissimilar materials in this environment.
Chongo
When this engine needs a head gasket the best thing to do would be to deck the block and the heads. I know this requires a lot more work but this also explains a lot of trouble others have experienced with this engine due to the differences in materials.
When I rebuilt my wife’s engine I replaced the liners……….. About $80.00 per bore to eliminate the old liner and $90.00 per liner plus another $60.00 per liner to trim the bottom to fit and install. It costs around $1,900.00 just to change the liners. I feel it was worth every dime. No problems and we are getting around 16 m.p.g. we fitted the new steel liners and finnished the bore to use the old pistons that only had 29,000 miles on them. I know it’s expensive, but it is the ultimate cure for dissimilar materials in this environment.
Chongo
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