With the open deck architecture of the Vega, the sleeve tied the bores and the outside of the block together to stiffen everything. It will help keep stuff straight and square, IMO>
Jack, I'm convinced you're right. Simply using the compression of the long bolts to hold things together is in no way going to provide the kind of stability I want in a racing engine. GM gave up on with the Vega - unfortunately, Rover lacked the resources to start with a clean sheet of paper.
Our discussions at PRI led us to the proposition of skipping the MLS gasket arrangement as well - for 2 reasons.
1 - The high performance MLS gasket available for the K is designed for both the 1.6/1.8 engine, which have 80 mm bores. This gives away too much compression in a 1 liter with 75 mm bores. It's a battle we've been through before, and we're not retaking that hill again.
2 - We've decided to O-ring the cylinders and put a retaining grove in the head. This will give us better control over the volume of the chamber and a better method to lock into place the positioning of the head. With the liners pressed into place and any positioning issue resolved, a thinner copper gasket - thinner than the stock gasket - can be used. At that point, we'll be looking at sealing off the oil and water passages between the block and the head with O-rings.
Toys are arriving. The junk head arrived from Germany yesterday. The bearing journals are mucked up, but we're using this to experiment with flow and porting. It wasn't cheap getting it here, but it's here.
Podunk is on the case whipping up a deck plate. Terry, again,
thank you! Adjustable cam pulleys arrived from France this afternoon.
Ordered the ARP studs today that replace the long bolts. Estimated arrival - Christmas Eve.
They'll look nice in my stockings on the mantle.