MG Sports Cars

Hey guys,

I was so elated, I finally got a 215 motor for a MGB GT project. I paid $100 for the motor site unseen. Well, I get it home and start playing with it and discover the motor stuck, not that surprising for a 47 year of motor. I remove the intake and the aluminum gasket and I see a bent push rod on driver side cylinder bank. So I dig farther and decide to remove the head. What I discover is two of the four pistons are pretty pitted up. But also I discover the second piston in has a split in the iron liner. So the question is, can this liner be welded up and repaired or is the engine shot?

Thanks for the help.

Paul

Paul

It can be bored out and a new liner pressed in. Make sure that they use a liner that is stepped at the top though. Smooth liners can slip when the engine warms up. When that happens it's 2000 rpm to 0 rpm instantly, been there done that :-(.

You may want to look for another block though, and save what you can from this engine. Liner replacements can be expensive, and there is a chance some of the other cylinders may have issues as well.

Bill



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2010 01:41AM by MG four six eight.

That failure is highly unusual for the GM versions of this engine. Salvage what parts you can and look for another one. Might be easier to find a Rover, and Buick heads are generally felt to flow better. Also Rover cast aluminum valve covers work with Buick heads.

JB

Quote:

Also Rover cast aluminum valve covers work with Buick heads.

Yes, but the original stamped steel covers are so very retro and cool looking! And so are the deeply finned aluminum covers that Offenhauser made for Olds 215's. Paul, if your Olds motor came with a 4-barrel intake, you at least broke even on your gamble. If you don't want that, you won't have any trouble selling it.

Like Jim said, this cracked-liner failure mode seems especially unusual for GM-produced versions of the aluminum V8. I'm curious about whether the engine has previously been rebuilt. I'd guess that on close inspection you might find that the cylinder liners have been bored oversize during a previous rebuild. If you don't have calipers handy, you might be able to verify this quickly by looking closely at a piston top. Sometimes they're stamped with a number... like "030" for a 0.030" oversize replacement piston.

If it's a 4bbl and the heads are usable you've more than got your money back.

JB

Thanks guys for the response. The motor is a standard 215 with a two barrel carb. Regarding the liner. I will take a picture of the crack and share with the group. I did look at the piston top and could not see a numbers showing a rebuild. If I decide to look for a good motor, what would be a reasonable price?

Also, I have the automatic tranny with this motor. If I decide to buy a different motor, what should I salvage from both the current motor and the auto tranny? Is the bell housing usable for a modern manual tranny?

Thanks for the help!

Paul