Cylinder Sleeve Installation and Resleeving

When Is Cylinder Resleeving Necessary?

Cylinder resleeving may be the best repair when a cylinder is cracked, excessively worn, deeply scored or damaged beyond the limits of normal boring or replating. It may also be appropriate when replacement cylinders are unavailable or too expensive.

Common causes of cylinder damage include:

• Dirt or water entering the engine
• Piston or ring failure
• Detonation or pre-ignition
• Engine overheating
• Incorrect carburetor jetting
• Air leaks
• Cooling-system failure
• Improper engine warm-up
• Head-gasket failure
• Previous cylinder damage or incorrect machining

Many modern powersports engines use Nikasil, ceramic or chrome-plated cylinder bores. When this coating becomes damaged, the available repair options generally include cylinder replating, replacing the cylinder or installing a cylinder sleeve.

What Is Included with Cylinder Sleeve Installation?

Depending on the engine and the parts supplied, our cylinder resleeving service may include:

• Cleaning and inspecting the cylinder
• Removing the original sleeve or preparing the existing bore
• Machining the cylinder for the replacement sleeve
• Installing a quality iron-alloy cylinder sleeve
• Boring and power honing for the supplied piston
• Matching two-stroke ports to the new sleeve
• Chamfering the cylinder ports
• Inspecting and cleaning the power valve
• Checking cylinder and head gasket surfaces
• Verifying piston-to-cylinder clearance
• Final cleaning and inspection

Benefits of an Iron Cylinder Sleeve

• Restores badly damaged cylinders
• Can cost less than purchasing a new OEM cylinder
• Maintains reliable engine performance
• Allows the cylinder to be bored to larger piston sizes later
• Makes otherwise unavailable vintage cylinders repairable
• Provides a rebuildable bore surface

Two-Stroke Cylinder Sleeve Installation

Two-stroke cylinder resleeving requires more than simply pressing a sleeve into the cylinder. The intake, transfer and exhaust ports in the sleeve must align correctly with the cylinder casting. The ports are matched and chamfered to promote proper airflow, ring life and dependable engine operation.

Ken OConnor Racing performs this machining in-house using the piston and sleeve dimensions required for the specific engine.

Four-Stroke Cylinder Resleeving

We also provide cylinder sleeve installation for many four-stroke ATV, dirt-bike, motorcycle and powersports engines. Each cylinder is inspected to determine whether installing a sleeve, replating the bore or replacing the cylinder is the best repair.

Cylinder Resleeving Prices

Cylinder sleeve installation prices depend on the engine, cylinder condition, required sleeve and piston. Additional machining may be required for severely damaged cylinders, large over-sizes, custom applications or vintage engines.