Liners or scrap?

[Hawksfield]

Hi you guys got me worried now.

I purchased my 1971 +2s130 in 1986 as a running car that required restoration although nothing was urgent and was a good runner, I drove it from Norfolk where I purchased it to Teesside ran well no problems.
I decided to carry out a body off restoration on a limited budget so lots had to be checked out.

I stripped the engine to inspect and to decide what if anything was required. crank was within tolerance and only needed new shells, bores were ok with standard Ford pistons but had liners fitted and decided to glaze bust and fit new rings. ground in valves and reset shims. I was surprised that it was fitted with dry liners but was led to believed that some were carried out by ford the block is a L block with a LB code on the front face, engine No P24342.
Engine was installed and ran after other work carried out on the car and was ok. Mileage was 49784. After running for around a year (3500 miles) it started to smoke and was stripped for inspection. The smoking due the result of fitting incorrect piston rings supplied from a so called specialist, the ring dimensions were incorrect and had scored the bores. At this point it was assessed for 0.015" rebore as I could get some original lotus 0.015" pistons from Kelvedon motors I decided this was the way to go with my limited knowledge (My knowledge is still way behind the members here) I have run this engine since then with the rebore and without any problems and to this day it still has cylinder compressions of +180 psi and does not smoke at all, current mileage is 96809 so its been good for 40275 miles.

Having read this thread where one poster says that dry liners should not be bored but replaced has left me a bit concerned, I would like any comments to what I have done and the risk of future failure. I do not know the dimension of the liners only that it looks a professional job and they are stepped liners. How much liner material is left insitu I do not know only hope its enough

[StressCraxx]

Hi you guys got me worried now.

I purchased my 1971 +2s130 in 1986 as a running car that required restoration although nothing was urgent and was a good runner, I drove it from Norfolk where I purchased it to Teesside ran well no problems.
I decided to carry out a body off restoration on a limited budget so lots had to be checked out.

I stripped the engine to inspect and to decide what if anything was required. crank was within tolerance and only needed new shells, bores were ok with standard Ford pistons but had liners fitted and decided to glaze bust and fit new rings. ground in valves and reset shims. I was surprised that it was fitted with dry liners but was led to believed that some were carried out by ford the block is a L block with a LB code on the front face, engine No P24342.
Engine was installed and ran after other work carried out on the car and was ok. Mileage was 49784. After running for around a year (3500 miles) it started to smoke and was stripped for inspection. The smoking due the result of fitting incorrect piston rings supplied from a so called specialist, the ring dimensions were incorrect and had scored the bores. At this point it was assessed for 0.015" rebore as I could get some original lotus 0.015" pistons from Kelvedon motors I decided this was the way to go with my limited knowledge (My knowledge is still way behind the members here) I have run this engine since then with the rebore and without any problems and to this day it still has cylinder compressions of +180 psi and does not smoke at all, current mileage is 96809 so its been good for 40275 miles.

Having read this thread where one poster says that dry liners should not be bored but replaced has left me a bit concerned, I would like any comments to what I have done and the risk of future failure. I do not know the dimension of the liners only that it looks a professional job and they are stepped liners. How much liner material is left insitu I do not know only hope its enough

Boring the liners 0.0075" per side is nothing to worry about. Enjoy your Elan and drive it.

Regards,
Dan Wise

[alan.barker]

+1 and with liners that have been fitted for a very long time they will not move now. You also know what cylinder wall thickness you have.
Enjoy
Alan

[JJDraper]

Good to see a thread that still gets users airing their knowledge. My original ask is still the same, but with no change in engine performance or oil use, I will hang on until something forces the issue. Could be the clutch, which has made rustly noises from the release bearing for the last few years. I guess I will keep on thrashing it and changing the oil & filter regularly which seems to be the most effective way of prolonging the life of these engines.

Most arduous task recently has been a serious, deep clean of the paintwork, which is looking a bit tired.. Whole day, then a couple of days to recover from the muscle aches.

I'm basically lazy!

Jeremy