When last we checked in on the Hagerty Redline Rebuild Buick straight eight engine project, a few of the bores had been condemned to be hogged out for sleeves and a couple of them had been given the all clear by the machinist. As this video begins we learn that upon further review, the machine shop has decided to just go ahead and sleeve all eight bores and leave nothing to chance with the assembly and quality of the engine. This gives us a chance to watch the process of boring and sleeving the block, a process that gets a little more complicated than anyone planned for during this video.
We give these guys credit not only for showing the whole process but for showing us when stuff does not go according to plan. They could have totally skipped over the problem and picked it right back up where they were in the video and we’d have never known a damned thing. Choosing NOT to do that makes the video even that much better because it does show what can happen during the process and it shows how an experienced machinist deals with it, fixes it, and moves on.
There are so many parts of engine building that are about precision, finesse, and perhaps even grace. Installing these sleeves ain’t one of them! Watch the process and check out the final prepared block which is awaiting pistons and a rotating assembly now.
This build is cool and the access we get in these videos is even cooler.
