[chopper]

Steve Christ, in his book "How To Rebuild Your Big-Block Ford", recommends sleeving no more than one cylinder per bank. If two adjacent cylinders are sleeved, it would be logical to assume that the sleeving was necessary due to a failure of the wall between the two cylinders. That wouldn't be hard to believe due to the nominal 0.110 inch cylinder wall thickness for the stock block.

From what I understand, not all of the blocks came with the "square cylinders" to which Mr mickmate refers. Only the second-generation side-oilers had that casting. However, his suggestion to have the block sonic checked is excellent advice.

That said, I've talked with a person here in Phoenix who claims to have a 427 with all eight cylinders sleeved. He claims to have had no problem with the engine despite some aggressive driving habits.