honing

[tejasmud]

sounds like a damn sausage-fest in here

Might not be a good idea to mention using a piece of folded up 240 grit sandpaper at this point, I supose.

[Big Jay]

Jay, this forum is full of garage mechanics, and some pretty good ones at that. Lots of us rebuild engines at home where all that's needed is to break the glaze and install new rings. Most of the time these engines have blown a head gasket or similar as opposed to worn out cylinders in need of a bore job. We aren't hammering the cylinder with hundreds of hone strokes so that a ball hone will cause the cylinder to go out of round or anything; just enough to get a nice cross-hatch pattern and then we call it done. Given this type of need there is nothing wrong with a ball hone. They are superior to similarly prices 3 blade flat hones and have proven their value countless times.

I don't think anyone here would discourage someone from taking there cylinder to someone like you for a hone job, but I also don't think there is anything wrong with doing it at home either.

Ed;
You are correct. If there is now other way to break the glaze, they will work. It would be better than putting fresh rings in a used non-honed cylinder.

If you read my original response, I stated we wouldn't use one on a customers cylinder, not that they guy in his garage shouldn't.

[chef1366]

Might not be a good idea to mention using a piece of folded up 240 grit sandpaper at this point, I supose.

LOL
Now that's funny

[blowerbike]

LOL
Now that's funny

bill i figured you'd be along swinging your massive man meat during this sausage-fest

[chef1366]

bill i figured you'd be along swinging your massive man meat during this sausage-fest

That's a thread killer

[Footy.]

No disrespect to Jay but I call BS on assertions that bottle brush hones are inappropriate. Cylinders wear with usage, that's why Suzuki lists a Service Limit for wear in the service manual. Further, cylinder wear does not occur uniformly down the cylinder, nor does it occur consistently around the cylinder front to back. Bottom line is there will be various low and high spots within a used cylinder, but the cylinder may still be within the service limit. Breaking the glaze in cylinders like this is critical since the rings will be somewhat challenged to seal in the first place considering the cylinder is not perfect.

Straight hones have more difficulty conforming to the small irregularities of worn cylinders than a ball hone. I suspect that's why ball hones were invented in the first place. Sure, you could hammer away at the cylinder with a straight hone and eventually you will cover all the surface area (low spots included), but you will also take out more metal than a ball hone would. I suspect this would be doubly the case if using a professional Sunnen hone machine which is very ridged with large flat stones. Hones like this will make the cylinder rounder and with less taper than a ball hone, but it will also increase the piston to wall clearance - possibly throwing it out of spec.

It's easy to say "if there is low spots it needs bored" but not everyone wants to spend the money on a bore job and new pistons ($500?) if their old parts are within the service limit. It's sort of like lapping the valves into the old seats; sure a valve job is the "proper" fix, but again, not every one has $160 laying around to pay for this.

Do what you want but in my view a ball hone is the proper tool for the job.

Completely agree.

If the decision is to just fit new rings to pistons and cyls within size spec, ball hone is the best tool for the job for the reasons in the quote above.

In forty years in the engine reconditioning industry, i have bored and honed thousands of cylinders from every kind of engine. I have used every kind of machine and equipment there is for boring and honing.

The spring loaded stone type "glaze busters" are a waste of time for a number of reasons. In this application ball hones are the tool for the job.

Footy.

[Big Jay]

You guys got me to thinking, if all the garage guys are using these ball hones, I am going to put them up on our tool site. http://racetoolz.com/

[chef1366]

Kris in Tehachapi and I use them on our bikes. They seat the rings nicely.

[nitro3custom]

You guys got me to thinking, if all the garage guys are using these ball hones, I am going to put them up on our tool site. http://racetoolz.com/

Do I get a cut for starting this thread?