The lotus liners were supposed to stick up .002-.005 above the block to seal against the head gasket. This sometimes resulted in water leaks between the block and head. Fix was more sealant according to Lotus.
Here in the Soutrheast in the post WWII 40s, early 50s there were oval tracks, dirt and asphalt, everywhere you looked, and the flathead Ford was the main car used. Only the '39-'41 Mercs and the postwar Fords and Mercs had the "100 horse" engines and they weren't easy to find. Most of the 24 stud "85 horse" engines had the sleeved blocks with a finish bore of 3.o62, and the piston manufacturers (aftermarket) came up with a piston that was about .083 oversize that would work in a 85 block by pressing the sleeves out and honing the bore, then running without the sleeve. Not as big as the 3.187 bore in the 100 engines, but lots cheaper. These were run in a lower class car that, I've been told in the past, also had to have open, unlocked differentials, etc.
on my superstocker we sleeved the bores when the wear got to the point of not being legal in the rules or had a block that was core offset , the liners also made the engine block more stable as the old block material was bored out as much as possible and then sleeve they were cold press fit and then machined and we could also make the cylinder walls thicker and even like we did on one block by cutting out the old cylinder completely and press a heavy liner in and filing half the block with filler , the top had a o ring . on semi diesels sleeves are a common thing , we call them "power packs" as the piston and rings are prefitted to the sleeves so all we have to do is pop the pin ( sometimes the rod is already connected ) and press the sleeve and pin back in and ring specs are set by the factory . they come in wet where only the top and bottom sit in the block and are o ringed and the sleeve sees cooling agent direct , or dry where the sleeve goes in the bore in the block and is dry and the head and pins holds it in place . when I worked on EMDs we got the complete powerpacks , and sent the old ones back to the factory for recycling . MY LTL freight man Hated me as they weighed 150 pounds a box and we ordered 16-24 at a time and the forklift always broke down when we got them and we didn't have a dock .
Rolls-Royce and Packard Merlins are wet-sleeved engines with the sleeves being sealed to the water jackets in the cylinder blocks with o-rings. Been working well for about 80 years now.
The Jalopy Journal
