Yes and yes again.

Time to do a leak-down test on that pot. If coolant getting into combustion chamber there's a good chance that when you apply air pressure it'll bubble out through the cooling system (do it with cap off expansion tank)

Oddness. Took the top two hoses off and no bubbles. Camera down that cylinder does look fairly clean, but its not the greatest camera in the world.

Hopefully will dig deeper with Gordon later. I wasn't really able to convincingly reproduce bubbling etc, although I didn't pull the feed off to the throttle body which it occurs to me is higher than the other two pipes. The water level in the pipes did increase slightly at one point, but that's not smoking gun stuff.

I'm currently crossing my fingers that it's just a torque issue and the ARP studs just need wound down a bit tighter, after changing the gasket again. Wife acceptance factor (and bank manager) won't really entertain a new short block I suspect.

Put your straight edge along the block face while you've got the head off, check liner tops etc just in case...

So I'm assuming the worst with the liner and pondering which short engine to go for. Was just about ready to drop money on the Turner one, then noticed the v8 developments one is significantly cheaper. And of course there's RPI.

The nice thing is that I can get the Turner stuff delivered for Wednesday, assuming I order before noon tomorrow. Lot of money though :|

Thoughts?

I took my block into V8 Dev and had them do the lot. Top hats, big ends, mains, pistons, rings, cam and followers, cam chain and sprockets, core plugs, the lot. Having been there and seen the work they do, I would recommend them any day. I've also been to RPi, listened to their BS and wouldn't touch them with a bargepole even if their prices are competitive which they invariably aren't. No experience of Turner but from their reputation, I would think there is going to be nothing to choose between them and V8 Developments other than price and availability. V8D normally have blocks ready to go from stock but for me it was going to be cheaper to wait while they did mine rather than go for a straight exchange. .

Another +1 on V8 Dev... I bought a short engine from them on exchange last year, (as seen in my engine rebuild thread) and I'm impressed with the quality - it's loosened up well too, and pulls like a boy's boarding school after dark if I let it...

Howcome we've jumped to a possible/probable liner issue? Has the head been removed yet to see if there is a visible issue in that cylinder?

My Turner in the black one has 98000 miles on it and still looks like this when you pop the lid:

RPI did the LPG work on my blue one and if that is an example of their attention to detail I'd not go there myself

Not had time to take the head off, but pretty much everyone I've spoken to says the same thing, cracked liner. That's why I'm resigned to buying a block.

Maybe take a breath before smashing the piggy bank on a short engine. If it turns out to be a cracked head or something you're out the cash and no further forward.
A day popping the heads and confirming the liner crack could save a lot of financial pain

I suppose you are right, but means potentially wasting more money pressure testing stuff again. Meh.

Not really. You know which pot it is that was causing the problem so just give that one a very good looking at. You are looking for a liner that is sitting very slightly lower than the others, or one that is cracked.

I've been told (and based on the leak down results I'd agree) that you'll not be able to spot a crack without doing a dye penetration test. I'll take it off today and see what's what.

Head off, and... Gotta be honest it all looks OK to me. Rh block
Individual pictures of each pot are in that album. Hard to post on phone.

Head checks out fine with the engineers straight edge. Gasket looks a1. Tiny amount of moisture in 8 but that could be from taking the head off. 4 looks quite clean but from memory that's the one Gordon had a go at cleaning originally. Tiny bit of oil snail trailing in 6 as you rotate the crank, so oil control ring may be a little worn. Not surprising really.

Hard to get straight edge on block, but looks level except between 6 and 8. Well within the tolerances for the head - I couldn't see a tolerance for the block face.

RH cylinder bank:

Cylinder 2:

Cylinder 4:

Cylinder 6:

Cylinder 8:

Out of those I would have said that cylinder 4 is the one that has slipped. It might just be the angle the photo has been taken at but the liner looks to be very slightly lower in the block than the others and it's also the one that is nice and clean and shiny. I know you mentioned Gordon had a go at cleaning it but it looks almost too clean compared to the others (I'm sure Gordon hasn't got to Morat standards of cleaning yet). 8 actually looks fine, nice carbon build up around the top of the liner as well as on the piston crown.

Dye penetration test on 8:

It's really hard to say. I can catch my fingernail on the liner/block interface on all four. Maybe, and its hard to judge with a nail, 4 and 8 are slightly more recessed, but it could be because they are cleaner.

Is there anything more definitive I can do to confirm slipped liners? The pen test on 8 shows a vertical line near the water jacket, but I'm not convinced its a crack, it looks too straight, possibly just a scratch?
Around the top of the liner its showing a "crack", not sure if that's to be expected with two dissimilar metals simply butted up against one another.