Matthew Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Hi. As the title suggests, I’m looking for a set of 4 cylinder liners for a Spitfire Mk3 FD prefix engine. I’m struggling to find them available from the usual suppliers. Any help gratefully received. If you’ve got some available, even better. Thanks Matthew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Wade Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Hi Matthew, What do you mean when you say you're looking for cylinder liners? On the standard engine the cylinders are bored in the block casting therefore there wouldn't normally be liners & the usual places wouldn't list them. If you're looking for dry liners to rescue a damaged bore, you need to take the block to your local engine machinist. They will find a suitable dry liner, bore the block to suit the liner & then bore the liner to suit the piston. It's a lot of work & if the block can just be rebored I would recommend doing that, you'll save yourself a lot of money. Obviously if it's already at its maximum oversize you will have to have liners fitted or find another engine. I hope that helps, Amy I'm talking from experience, engine reconditioning was my day job 25 years ago. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimboyfat Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Here is a link to cylinder liners; https://www.canleyclassics.com/?canvas=home&ptno=158941 Not normally a stock item, but we should be able to get some in short order. Coincidentally we had a block go through machining last week that had previously been linered, its not that rare 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standardthread Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 If you have no luck I have a pair of Herald 13/60 blocks going free. They are in good condition, no ridges at the top of the bores, therefore little (?) wear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65redspit Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Amy is right, re-bore the block, liners are not a great solution… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted July 13, 2023 Author Share Posted July 13, 2023 21 hours ago, Amy Wade said: Hi Matthew, What do you mean when you say you're looking for cylinder liners? On the standard engine the cylinders are bored in the block casting therefore there wouldn't normally be liners & the usual places wouldn't list them. If you're looking for dry liners to rescue a damaged bore, you need to take the block to your local engine machinist. They will find a suitable dry liner, bore the block to suit the liner & then bore the liner to suit the piston. It's a lot of work & if the block can just be rebored I would recommend doing that, you'll save yourself a lot of money. Obviously if it's already at its maximum oversize you will have to have liners fitted or find another engine. I hope that helps, Amy I'm talking from experience, engine reconditioning was my day job 25 years ago. Thanks everyone for the comments, particularly Amy. Yes, it is the dry liners I’m looking for as the block I’ve acquired has already been bored to it’s maximum. I’m trying to learn how the engine goes together and have question marks over the one in the car given the ‘interesting’ approaches to repairs I keep uncovering and only having seen it run when it was driven off the trailer and into the garage. The second unit I’m trying to put together I‘m intending having machined and converted for unleaded running is currently composed of the block and cylinder head. I need to find an engine machinist nearby (Stafford) and see what they say but I’m hoping to be able to put this one together. My approach may make no sense (rather than taking the existing unit out) but I’m using this to learn the internals as I go along. That said, what sort of price would be reasonable for lining the block and converting the head for unleaded? Standardthread, thanks for the offer. I’ll see what the view is on this one as it is an FD block and get back to you if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Wade Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 (edited) On 13/07/2023 at 11:48, standardthread said: If you have no luck I have a pair of Herald 13/60 blocks going free. They are in good condition, no ridges at the top of the bores, therefore little (?) wear. If they're small crank engines I'd go for one of these, the only differences I can think of are the cam profile (use the FD engine cam) & the compression ratio (use the head from the FD engine). I can't remember if the small crank herald engine has cam bearings, it's not a big deal if it doesn't but if you want to have them you could get the block line bored. If I've forgotten any other differences, I'm sure someone will point them out... @Matthew it's entirely down to you as to what you do, I'm just trying to minimise your expense. Edited July 14, 2023 by Amy Wade 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted July 14, 2023 Author Share Posted July 14, 2023 18 minutes ago, Amy Wade said: If they're small crank engines I'd go for one of these, the only differences I can think of are the cam profile (use the FD engine cam) & the compression ratio (use the head from the FD engine). I can't remember if the small crank herald engine has cam bearings, it's not a big deal if it doesn't but if you want to have them you could get the block line bored. If I've forgotten any other differences, I'm sure someone will point them out... @Matthew it's entirely down to you as to what you do, I'm just trying to minimise your expense. Thanks for all of your advice Amy. I’ll have a think about what to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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