I have seen this done before and yes it does work BUT at what cost? One little mistake will cost you more money down the road, i am all about doing right the first time. You taking the head off, oil pan off, so 50% of the job is done, save money for the next 50% of the job and remove the short block.

 

I'm pretty sure the drop-in should only be done on new to close to new blocks.

 

Thanks for the opinions folks, but remember what I'm really looking for are comments from people who have direct, long term experience with drop-in builds, and so far, all comments from people with direct experience are positive.

 

I've done it before. But just make sure the cylinder walls are within tolerance for the piston. Hone it and go.

Guy I did it for is still driving it now. About 20k on it.
I can get it back and do compression numbers if you like.

 

You might as well pull/drop the motor. Not that much more work since you have to take the head off either way. Do it right and have some peace of mind for yourself in the long run. Just my opinion.

Fred

 

To add somethin MrFred since youve been one of the guys on the forum thats helped our cars improve certain aspects, with the ecu etc, if youve gone through that much trouble to help improve the DD aspects of our cars, why would you in a sense take shortcuts with your own car, especially in an aspect that can bite you in the *** a few thousand dollars if somethin goes wrong. Not questioning your motive by taking shortcuts, but tryin to understand why?? Money an issue? Time? just curious tryin to get an understanding.

 

Money and principle. I want to keep cost as reasonable as possible while still being able to support my power goals (550 ft-lbs / 550 whp). I think that if done right, drop-ins can do this. So far, all reports from other people who have done drop-ins are positive.

 

Good thread mate, i'm also considering this.
What milage do you have on your stock block? Mine is at 76k atm.

 

One comment for the people who are recommending against drop-ins, but appear to have no experience with it - As I said in my first post, a drop-in build should only be done on a motor that has still has round cylinder bores and is in otherwise good condition.

 

I'm bumping this thread to see if anyone else out there has done this and also an update from MrFred. Did you follow through?

I'm very interested as well and wondering about doing this even with the motor still in the car. The only problem by doing it this way is checking rod bearing clearance.

 

I still plan to do it, but still don't have all the money yet needed. I plan to port the head and install a MAP O2 eliminator DP (recirc) at the same time.

 

Mrfred,

I think that you got a good point. Not all 4g63 motors need to be bored out. IF the cylinder walls are fine, I don't see why a combination can't hold up real well. It's significantly cheaper also if you do it yourself.

 

I wouldn't do drop in's on a high mileage motor. It needs a hone/possibly bore with a torque plate to remove the taper and correct bore finish to seat the rings properly.

 

Piston to wall factory is .002, most performance motors are 4.5 to 5 thou. Mychailo's ended up at 4.5 after a good hone with the torque plate but in car. I have seen high mileage motors that still dont need bored. The thing is alot of the ovalling that used to occur on high mileage motors was from inefficient carb and fuel injection (or lack of maintenance), no timing control vs knock, etc. You would be amazed at what will work based on how many miles it has. To be fair it does go the other way sometimes but its not always "it has a 140k it needs bored".

 

The real savings imo for doing such a drop in technique would be savings on the labor of pulling and returning motor, machine shop labor. That is nothing to laugh at, but the problem is there is absolutely no way of knowing the health of the walls without checking. And if they do need to be bored even .00X it'll be key in the survival over time. Do I have experience with a high mileage drop in? Nope, but I will drop in soon if my walls are fine.