Building a bullet proof 4b11 motor

Over the last few months I have been looking at internal engine upgrades for the 4B11 evo X motor. We knew to push the limits and be reliable with these new aluminum blocks we’d have to look into sleeving. I contacted our friends at ERl, who are pioneers in the sleeving industry. From upgrading Honda blocks to tricked out tall deck LS1’s I knew these were the guys I wanted to work with. Starting from a brand new OEM block we started machining away the OEM cylinder liners. During the machining process measurements were taken to verify we weren’t disrupting the structure of the block. After removing all of the necessary material and machining a step at the top of the bore a final inspection is done to ensure no block distortion. This is where ERL can work their magic. ERL then installed proprietary ductile iron sleeves which are pressed in and sit in the machined step so they will not sink during engine operation. Once in place the new sleeves are machined flush or in our case a few thousands above the rest of the deck surface. This is similar to an o-ring and will help increase the clamping force on the head gasket. Each block then receives final bore sizing and cross hatching. Next we install AMS spec main studs and align hone the main journals. This is done to 100% verify that there was no movement in the block during any of the other machining processes. Now I’m ready for the internals!! Here are some pics of the build so far.