I was going to buy a set of top-hats to fix my 4.6 block, from a member here.
He was selling them because he can't find a machine shop to mill the block and install them, and neither can I.
If you can find a shop that will, he has a great deal on them in the classifieds here.

 

That was the original intent of the post, you can buy the block alone from Turner with Top Hats already installed for about half the cost of a short block. So I'm just looking into feasibility of building up the short block myself.

 

Yeah. I gotta say that I think the whole slipped liner thing is overblown. If you can get a good used motor and get your temps at 180 is and your coolant not orange then you can probably drive to hell and back. I'm not a 1 rover guy. Actually have 4 discos now. I would never in a million years spend Turner money. Get a good used motor and roll the dice. Turner don't give you more hp and it's never gonna come back to you at resale.

My 2 cents.

 

I know, just another option, and I just went through the same thing a couple months ago as how I was gonna go about fixing my cracked 4.6
I read up on Every option and followed every lead, including a Turner block and short block....that's how I ended up with the 4.0 block I'm building now.

 

Never say never on the resale.
Watch D2 prices climb in the near future, and I already see higher prices since I got mine a few years ago.
Supply and demand. The supply is going down, and not everyone's a mechanic.
Take your pick of old muscle cars, and old LR's, and that people said they'd never have any real value.
I have a love/hate relationship with my D2...yet whenever I see a deal on one, I find myself wanting it, lol

 

I agree with you about the future price rise. I got 2 extras in great shape that I decided to just store instead of selling. I once sold a 69 charger for peanuts 35 years ago. I regret that.

 

If the only difference between 4.0 and 4.6 was crank arm length, isn't the 4.0 block not going to have the same issues with the possibility of cracked/leaking liners? Why did you ultimately decide to go with the 4.0 block?

 

Cracked blocks/leaking liners are supposedly usually only 03/04 problems(worn molds/block castings, poor quality, etc). The P38 4.6 were made until 02, and were A quality for RR, D2's got B and C quality(factory approval rating).
The 4.0 were earlier models too obviously, and are not commonly known to have liner issues, and we know the blocks are the same.
So I searched for either. I happened to find a good used 4.0 from a reputable source first.
And since neither is the easiest thing to come by, I jumped at the opportunity.
After disassembling the 4.0, the block and bores look really good. So I'm confident to rebuild it...fingers crossed, it is a LR, lol