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honing

  • Thread starter Thread starter nitro3custom
  • Start date Start date
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nitro3custom

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I need to hone my cylinders, and see that both ball and stone types are used. I have used both types for other applications. My question is wouldn't a stone type give a more uniform hone? The ball hone is understadable but we're talking about maximizing compression with this use. I think the stone hone is going to uniform the bore. and the ball hone conforms to irregulatities in the bore and the rings might not conform to that. What is the concenses of this ?
 
take it to someone who knows what they are doing and get it done properly. you cant go wrong then, unless they do but then you got someone to blame
 
Use a ball hone - 240 - 320 grit. Straight hones are better for freshly bored cylinders but they don't conform to minor cylinder wear abnormalities. And forget taking it to someone unless they have a ball hone of the proper grit and know how to use it.
 
I've used a stone hone on 3 bikes now, that I have put new rings in, and have gotten good results. My dad gave me a bunch of tools and the hone was part of that so I use it.

Never used the ball hone so cannot comment on that.
 
7981GS said:
FYI, the machine shops use stones when they do it. ;)

Daniel
Click to expand...

Maybe your machine shop does, but not any I've visited. Remember, we are talking about honing a used cylinder, not newly bored.
 
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machine shops use a ridged sunnen hone not the crappy stone hone's like everybody else has access to.
use a ball hone like was already mentioned.
 
The ball hone is pretty much foolproof and easy to DIY.

Unless you're reboring, there's not much reason to use the stone-style hone.

You can get good results with either -- it just takes longer and is more subject to variation with the stones.
 
A bit more detail on the stone honing I did on my GS's:

I used a variable speed drill with the hone on the end. I gave each cylinder 100 up/down strokes stopping every 20 strokes to wash the cylinder and hone with varsol. I adjusted the drill speed and up/down speed so as to get about a 45 degree cross hatch. That is a pretty slow drill speed. When they are all honed I take some clean varsol and a plastic brush and give the cylinder walls a good cleaning then wipe them and blow them and put some motor oil on them. It takes less than 10 minutes to hone all 4 cylinders.

BTW these are all on existing cylinder walls with new rings. These bikes have all broken in quickly and never had an oil burning issue right from the first firing.

Brian:D
 
We don't like ball hones and would never use one on a customers cylinder.
 
Big Jay said:
We don't like ball hones and would never use one on a customers cylinder.
Click to expand...

I don't understand the rational is for this comment. A bottle brush hone is widely accepted as the proper tool to hone a worn, but still within the serviceable limits, cylinder.

Sure, a bottle brush is not as sano as a fresh bored/honed cylinder, but its better than trying to cram a straight hone down a used cylinder since it can skip over low spots, or the hone will have to remove a bunch of metal to make the cylinder round again.
 
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who uses a 20 dollar blade hone from autozone ?
oh wait..
i have seen pictures posted around here before...not to pretty.
 
Nessism said:
I don't understand the rational is for this comment. A bottle brush hone is widely accepted as the proper tool to hone a worn, but still within the serviceable limits, cylinder.

Sure, a bottle brush is not as sano as a fresh bored/honed cylinder, but its better than trying to cram a straight hone down a used cylinder since it can skip over low spots, or the hone will have to remove a bunch of metal to make the cylinder round again.
Click to expand...

If there is low spots then it needs bored.
 
Ok putting an end to this thread, it's null and void as I will be reboring for a wiseco 1085 kit.:dancing: The piston skirts we're worn more than expected. Thanks for the input.
 
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.
 
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Ed, if you sold expensive engine work for a living you would disagree too.
Bottle hones are great, I have used them to get good ring seals on cylinders worn WAY past the limits, on cars and bikes both. The pistons were very loose in the bore. No blowby, no smoke, good compression. I don't know how long they lasted, certainly not as long as a proper rebore and new pistons would have, but they worked for many thousands of miles I had the cars and bikes. You couldn't do this crap on a customer's engine, but it worked in a pinch.
 
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