golden eagle is junk...... every G/E sleeved block ive ever seen has had issues with sleeves dropping. the culprit is how they machine the step that holds the sleeve in place... if you dont believe me, just ask them why they tell you to run radiator stop leak in ur cooling system. because there design sucks.... no race car should EVER have stop leak in the cooling system, much less should it be PRESCRIBED as something needed to make it all work.


anyhow what you choose is going to depend on what type of head gasket you run. if you intend to stick with a factory honda gasket then oringing the block will cause the gasket to fail {they are too brittle} solid gaskets like copper ones seal well {by seal i mean compression} but for street use, they can leak copious amounts of water between the head and block, especially when the engine is cold.

if it were me id have the deck machined smooth, and use a cometic turbo gasket. not sure what they are called exactly, but basically the "o-ring" is built into the gasket so u get an extra snug seal around the cylinders. the benefit of having it in the gasket is when u pull the head u wont have to worry about replacing the orings, or checking the step.

anyhow what kind of sleeves are you getting? dartons or aebs? something of that nature..... otherwise leaving the block open deck an just changing the factory sleeves to some other random iron sleeve would be worthless, and quite possibly a downgrade from the stockers.