1971 140 rebuild advice

[71VegaKammback]

I have a numbers matching original 71 Gt motor. Runs perfectly with 50k miles. Never been out of the car. Of course it smokes but good compression. Offenhauser 2 bbl intake and header. I have a stock sleeve and piston kit. Any advice from folks who have sleeved this engine before? I plan on using a reputable machine shop but I am sure they have not done this before. Sleeve kit comes with instructions. I plan on having them balance it. Keeping stock cam and original oil pump. Thanks. George

[rpoz-29]

I've seen non sleeved engines go as far as sleeved engines. If it was mine, I would re ring it unless there was a lot of scuffing in the cylinders. However, since you already have a sleeve kit, I would assume any reputable machine shop could figure out how it's installed. (I know a shop who has rebuilt the A390 alloy engines, and sleeved dozens of Vega engines if you don't have faith that your guy can do the job). Do not let that camshaft get away from you. According to a guy who built engines for the old NASCAR "Baby Grand" class, that cam was hotter than any other 2bbl Vega cams. GM said there was no difference, but the '71 has its own part number. I ran one in my '73 and the difference was noticeable.

[hammerdown7]

If you have it sleeved, one thing that is done on Cosworth engines is that the top of the sleeves are .005" higher than the perimeter of the block. In reality, if there has been no overheating and only minor scuffing, the silicon etched walls are harder than the steel sleeves.

Dick