EJ22 Head Bolt Collar Sleeve for Head<->Block Alignment - Use other corner OK?

[brycarp]

Hi All,

 

My junkyard engine I'm fixing up for my daughter's car (from 97 OBS) had exposure to weather, and got water into one upper head bolt chamber on each head. The alignment sleeves rusted into oblivion and the aluminum of both the head and block got eroded some at that one location on each side too. Therefore one of the the head<->block alignment sleeves that can be seen in this image on the two upper outboard head bolt holes: https://res.cloudinary.com/rallysport/image/private/s--hvDrFMTx--/f_auto,t_auto_rsd_product/v1436916942/product_images/sub_10103ac050_1 has a degraded area surrounding it in the aluminum of both the head and block. At least on my heads and block, all four of the outboard head bolt holes have identical machining to accept the alignment sleeve. Any reason not to switch to using the lower bolt hole for that sleeve on each side of the engine to take advantage of the uncompromised aluminum? The sleeves would then be at diagonal corners rather than both on the upper outboard bolts.

 

Thanks!

Bry

 

 

 

[matt167]

I don't even think all EJ22's had them. I know the '96 EJ22 that I did gaskets on did not.. But it should work fine if you drop one down.