Farmall C152 engine boring question

Hello everyone,
I have a C152 block out of my W4 that I would like to bore out to run the C175 (3.625) pistons. I have read a bunch of different articles online about those who have done this but they don't seem to get
into any detail about how they did it. So I have a couple questions:

1- If I were to remove the sleeves from my C152 and bore the bare-block to fit the C175 pistons (3.625) what should be done about the step in the block where the old sleeve sat under the head? Can I make a
steel ring that fits on the step or should something else be done?
2- Will the original head work with this bigger diameter? (I was thinking a C175 head gasket would work under the original head)
---I will have more questions to come I'm sure---


Please be kind with the responses. I know there are lots of different opinions out there that say you should never run without sleeves or I should find a C175 block instead or that I should stroke the crank
while its apart but; I am not trying to win any trophies or break the bank looking for parts. I have the engine, a bridgeport and desire to try a project like this so I'm looking for some friendly advise.

H block or similar in a W4 has a thick walled sleeve. Replacement sleeves are thin wall to get to the overbore. No trimming of the block is needed. There is a difference in the flange so not sure about that. I put the overbore in my 300 block but the fit was tight and had to hone some.

Most guys that can operate a boring bar, wont do a thing until you have the new sleeves in the case, in his hand to measure, to bore the next hole,this is very exacting work ! But thats a lot bore a block!!

If you do that the best I can figure is you will have a 0.070 inch groove left where the sleeve step is in the top of the cylinder bore. That would be a fairly large ..crevice region.. area. This pod caster in the link will tell you all about it. That link may only work on an
iPhone.
The Hot Rod Farmer Crevice regions in combustion area

Yes the counter bore can be filled. May be best to use a special head gasket that contacts the ring all the way around. If boring runs into a thin or pores in block and using for short runs hard blocking may work. Depending on pistons used a H gas head may need the combustion chamber ground for clearance mostly in one place. Regular C-175 pistons with H connecting rods will require piston pin adapter in rod. Have pistons to measure before boring or get the piston measurements if boring fails to save money.

How much for a rebuildable short block C175 from a salvage yard against all this machine work and unforeseen circumstances?

Sorry, I missed the last part. Now I get what youre doing and why.

Cut the flange off the 152 sleeves, and locktite them in the counter bores. Then bore the cyl. 152 or 175 gasket will work just fine. Myself, Id put the 175 sleeve in, but its not mine. Ive done this 100 times. Good luck.

the parent bore in an H block is smaller than your 300 block.

Thanks all for responding and giving different options to look into.

I have found some cases where people have used pistons from different tractors and cars even after they have bored out their engines. However these pistons MUST have different compression heights (height from the top of the piston to the center of the wrist pin) from the original pistons. So are guys making custom connecting rods?

For instance, I think it would be neat to bore my engine out to fit the 3.75 piston from the C-291 gas engine out of a 756 (if I can find parts) however the compression height on these pistons is 2.024 based on my research. This is nearing .500 difference from the 2.5 compression height that stock pistons came with on my C-152. the C-291 piston would sit almost a half inch deeper in the bore.

What do guys do to make up this difference? (there's no way that much material is decked off the top of the block) So are custom connecting rods made?

Boring the block out to 3.75 for these pistons is probably expensive and not the way I am going to go but I am curious how pullers work around these problems.

Thanks

The reason the articles you read don't go into how they went about boring the block is because the writers of those articles didn't do the boring.

Their effort in the process went like this: "Drop unbored block off at the machine shop. Pick bored block up from the machine shop."

I think what you're asking here is about the wrist pin height. Ideally you'd find new pistons with the same wrist pin height as OEM so as to continue to use the OEM rods. Otherwise you have to find longer connecting rods with the correct dimensions on both ends... That usually means a custom rod needs to be made, which is $$$, the opposite of your stated goal...

Your least $$$ path to 175 cubes on that block is to use 350 pistons. But then I'm thinking the wrist pin size may be different so you'd have to use 350 rods, and then the 350 crank journal size may be different so they won't work on your W4 crank, and you'll need a 350 crank...

This has a good chance to turn into a can of worms no matter how you approach it.

Whats the reward for doing this to the c152 ?