Hey, go for it!

If you can make it work, that is awesome. Getting the honing debris out of the bottom end might be an issue, and topping off the sleeve with the file might be dicey but you sound very knowledgeable. At the beginning of this discussion I was convinced you were headed for disaster but you have convinced me that you have the knowledge and skill to do it.

I would not recommend it for most folks though.

And having one bore bad and the other be excellent may be a rare issue.

The other problem is getting the pan off with the engine in the car, which can be done too but is a pain.

good luck. keep us posted.

Tom W

Don't know where you are UberGeek, but if you take this on and are local to where I am, I'd love to bring my camera equipment by and get pictures of the process for the forum.

pat
 

you aint the only one that would like to see the sleeve come out of his engine.
ubergeek,have you re-examed the block since i suggested that the block most likely has not been sleeved since new?
larry perkins

Hm, now that i think about it, why not just bore it out and put bigger sleeves and pistons in it?

His point is to extract the one sleeve which is damaged without removing the engine from the car.

Tom W

Now, this would be a real trick, but why not bore out the liner with the engine in the car if you can if it can be done, and have the rod,counterweight, and pistion matched to all the others that would work lol. it would be like a harley 4 cylinder!

Several of you have emailed or offered some very useful suggestions which I will be looking into in the near future.

I have also contacted the engineering division at KS for some suggestions since they are the ones responsible for providing OE replacement parts worldwide. Also the local Snap On distributor believes that this is possible and will be contacting OTC which has supplied him with liner extractor tools for other diesels motors.

I will post the details as they become available. Once I'm confident that the details have been resolved, I'll perform the operation on my spare motor that I would like to fully rebuild for an upcoming project.

NOTE
For sake of clarity regarding those who might view this thread, there are a few points that must be understood:

1. Not all Benz diesel blocks have removable sleeves / liners. In this particular case I am working with the 87 OM603 3.0L engine. According to my MB shop manual, all of these blocks had removable liners but there were production changes during 1988 that affected the some of the OM602 series (2.5L Diesel) and apparantly all OM603 3.6L Diesel's which did not have removable liners.

2. All replacement pistons and liners whether they originate from the Mercedes dealers or their OE manufacturer, are oversize. Also according to the piston series designation (stamped into the block) there are minor variations in sizes. Like always Mercedes will throw another gotcha at the worst possible time, so never assume the pistons are the same unless they come from the same motor. Even if they look identical, it's always good practice to weigh an orphan piston on a triple beam since the casting, ring lands, etc, might change during production / location with another OE supplier.

The procedures referenced in this thread are well beyond the scope of most DIY'ers and require significant experience and the use of specialized precision tools. I always realized that this would be experimental, risky, and most likely very difficult. On the other hand this is what defines innovation.

The factory pistons have a size stamped on the top. As noted above the variations are slight.

Tom W