Cylinder liners

[JohnMorin]

Hi

Does anyone know whether Lotus or whoever was building their Twin Cam engines ever fitted cylinder liners from new. I ask because when I rebuilt my engine because of modifications at just over 45k (1969 S4) I noticed that the block was lined. In all the literature I have read, including Miles Wilkins excellent volume, I can find no mention of this ever having been done.

Thanks

John

[jono]

I understand that Ford would sometimes 'recover' an out of spec block/poor casting by linering in the factory rather than scrapping so you may have one of those?

[Hawksfield]

Hi
I think my car was linered by lotus/Ford but cannot be 100% sure. The block is LB, The pistons looked oem graded standard. The rest of the engine was conducive to its mileage. 40k
I have since had it rebored due to the incorrect supply of piston rings by a so called expert in 1988

[Andy8421]

I find it hard to believe that it would be economical for a volume producer like Ford to liner a block. It would require specialist machining away from the line, separate equipment and tooling, skilled machinists to perform the work and then the block reinserted into the line for assembly. It seems more likely it would be scrapped.

I could of course be wrong.

[avro]

It’s certainly not uncommon to find Lotus blocks that have been linered by Fords. In my own collection and those that l have belonging to customers l have five factory linered blocks in the workshop at the moment and have seen many more over the years. Blocks that were unsuitable for use because of perhaps casting defects were certainly salvaged by fitting liners and these found their way into new engines and those used in the Ford Engine Exchange Scheme of the time. Lotus blocks fitted with liners were often found in exchange 1500 Cortina and Corsair pushrod engines. Some years ago I found myself in possession of a batch of new 1500 pushrod engines purchased at a Ministry of Defence sale , they all had Lotus 701M blocks and all had liners fitted.
I’ve been able to recognize Ford fitted liners as opposed to those fitted by others because of the method of fitting and the finish. Fords used a parallel liner as opposed to flanged liner and relied on just the correct interference fit to stop them from moving. At the bottom of the liner they were quite crudely ground to more or less match the profile of the block that gives clearance to the conrods.


Nick

[Andy8421]

It’s certainly not uncommon to find Lotus blocks that have been linered by Fords. In my own collection and those that l have belonging to customers l have five factory linered blocks in the workshop at the moment and have seen many more over the years. Blocks that were unsuitable for use because of perhaps casting defects were certainly salvaged by fitting liners and these found their way into new engines and those used in the Ford Engine Exchange Scheme of the time. Lotus blocks fitted with liners were often found in exchange 1500 Cortina and Corsair pushrod engines. Some years ago I found myself in possession of a batch of new 1500 pushrod engines purchased at a Ministry of Defence sale , they all had Lotus 701M blocks and all had liners fitted.
I’ve been able to recognize Ford fitted liners as opposed to those fitted by others because of the method of fitting and the finish. Fords used a parallel liner as opposed to flanged liner and relied on just the correct interference fit to stop them from moving. At the bottom of the liner they were quite crudely ground to more or less match the profile of the block that gives clearance to the conrods.
Nick

Thanks Nick for the info. I stand corrected.

[Hawksfield]

Nick
That describes my block exactly
Thanks for the info
John

[512BB]

' At the bottom of the liner they were quite crudely ground to more or less match the profile of the block that gives clearance to the conrods.'

I concur Nick, see pictures. This was an engine I built a while ago, and was surprised to see that the block had been linered, as the engine had only covered a genuine 21k miles. Of course the mileage had nothing to do with why the block had been linered, it just must not have been within spec when it was originally machined, and so it was decided by the powers that be, to liner it, instead of scrapping it.

The fact that the block had been linered did not seem to affect the value of the car when it came up for sale mind: https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/sa0 ... onvertible

Leslie

[englishmaninwales]

Interesting production history, thanks Nick and Leslie (unfortunately your URL doesn’t link).
Malcolm

[nmauduit]

Interesting production history, thanks Nick and Leslie (unfortunately your URL doesn’t link).
Malcolm

one needs to complete the address with "le" to read "convertible" at the end (sold for over 65 grands)

[englishmaninwales]

Thanks.

[512BB]

Thanks for pointing out the error in the link Malcolm, now corrected.

Interesting to note the comments and description of the car by the auctioneers. I don't think they would know an 'original' car if they saw one. The only thing they got right was that it was an original 1972 Elan Sprint.

Also I note, Steve Soper, the seller, had wanted a Sprint for 20 years. He found and bought a very nice car, and sold it 2 years later having driven it nowhere

Leslie

[2cams70]

The fact that the block had been linered did not seem to affect the value of the car when it came up for sale mind:

The lawyer in me says you can't make that assumption unless the fact that the block had been lined had been mentioned in the advertisement - which it wasn't of course.

[alanr]

Unless the engine is stripped how would anyone know?...and what difference would it make anyway. Lining a block back to original standard bore spec is a perfectly acceptable thing to do!...No problem.

As an aside.All Formula Ford 1600 Kent engines (basically same block as twink) are linered back to original standard bore size in the UK. It is illegal to run an overbored engine in this race category. Re-linering in this race formula of the Kent engine is normal practice.

Alan

[2cams70]

Unless the engine is stripped how would anyone know?...and what difference would it make anyway. Lining a block back to original standard bore spec is a perfectly acceptable thing to do!...No problem.

As an aside.All Formula Ford 1600 Kent engines (basically same block as twink) are linered back to original standard bore size in the UK. It is illegal to run an overbored engine in this race category. Re-linering in this race formula of the Kent engine is normal practice.

That's not the point I'm arguing. The point I am arguing is that you can't claim that the value of the car in this auction was not affected by having a linered block unless that fact was disclosed in the advertisement prior to sale.