[eschaider]

Sorry to hear that Tex.

When you do the replacement engine, there are wire circlips available today that I used to shun years ago when they first came out. They have improved them by orders of magnitude. It is not uncommon to see them in 1000 RWHP cars today. They have an excellent service record and are relatively easy to install or remove. Your pistons need to be built to use them. They can not be swapped into older design pistons. Additionally, the wrist pin ends use a small chamfer on the OD to load the circlip into the pin lock groove on the piston.

If all this sounds a little too chancy for you, the gold standard is still double Spirolocs. They are a bit of a pain to work with, but I have seen engines where the pistons come out in pieces, and the Spirolocs are still in their receiver grooves!

Don't sleeve the block. Replace the block. You will be happier in the end.


p.s. When you replace the pistons, check out Gibtec. They make billet pistons. Each piston is absolutely identical to the others, and if you hurt one, they can make an exact duplicate of it for you down to the exact gram weight — even years later!! BTW they are extremely price competitive with conventional forged piston suppliers. If you want to use them PM me and I'll give you contact info to get ahold of them.