Tips on honing

[Shadona]

I'm gonna help my buddy fix his car this weekend.
Engine seems to run OK. It has a but of blowby. If you lift the oil dipstick out while running you can see a small amount of smoke escape through.

Compression is 90-135-135-135 so we are gonna try to re-ring #1.
Engine has low miles. (under 5k)

We have a stone type hone we can borrow.

Just looking for any tips out there....thanks.

Did you do the compressoin test dry AND wet? Put a little oil in the cylinder thats low and do the test again. If its no differnent its not the rings.

[86Shelby]

Be careful honing the cylinder if that's what you end up doing. Get a good 45* crosshatch pattern. If the crosshatches are too horizontal they will act like a zipper on the rings and they will wear out in no time. If they are too verticle, the rings will spin and not seat correctly. So do your best to get 45* on the crosshatches. Take off the least amount of material you can, very minimum.

Definitely do a wet compression check before you tear into the engine, it could save you a lot of time and money. If the readings do not change an appreciable amount over the dry readings you posted earlier the problem is in the head, valves, or headgasket.

[Shadona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86Shelby Be careful honing the cylinder if that's what you end up doing. Get a good 45* crosshatch pattern. If the crosshatches are too horizontal they will act like a zipper on the rings and they will wear out in no time. If they are too verticle, the rings will spin and not seat correctly. So do your best to get 45* on the crosshatches. Take off the least amount of material you can, very minimum. Definitely do a wet compression check before you tear into the engine, it could save you a lot of time and money. If the readings do not change an appreciable amount over the dry readings you posted earlier the problem is in the head, valves, or headgasket.

Did a dry test and got about 75.
Put some oil in and it bumped up to 150.

[russ jerome]

The slower the drill turns the better chance of getting the desired *45 crosshatch. Depending on how close the ball hone is to bore (tight/loose) you will have to make a guess on how much you are removing. Smooth strokes up and down with no pause until stone is out of bore. Have done a few old v-8's with great results but never tried our 4's.

[Mike M]

I've done one with a ball-hone before, not the stone type. Like Russ said, let the drill spin rather slowly, but move it in the bore quite quickly to get the desired 45 degree hatch.

[tmef]

After honing, be sure and clean the cylinder walls VERY well. Any grit left behind will just get impacted into the grooves and the rings won't seat. I start with engine degreaser and then acetone.

[Shadona]

We will be using the stone type hone. Any tips with that style hone?

[kedavis]

3.5 inch ball hone to deglaze followed by an ultra finish hone works great and ring seal great.

[glhsken]

If the cylinder has the orig cross hatches evident, LEAVE it alone. I've never honed a cyl I've either re-ringed or dropped a same size replacement in. Everyone has seated INSTANTLY.

Honing correctly is a fine art. If you've never done it, Leave it to a shop.

[mo' parts]

inspect that low cylinders piston very carefully. my car when i bought it, had the same prob. cept on #4. upon dissasembly, the piston was pitted and cracked. good luck.

[amoparacer]

Im with ken dont hone but do a carful inspection on the low piston. Look in the ring lands for cracks that arnt as obvious. Inspect the cylinder for vertical scratches if there arnt any dont hone. If you do hone any way make sure to clean to or three times that is normal whats wrong when you dont get them to seat is dirty bore on installation you can usally see a dark greyish color in the cylinder if motor was assembled dirty. Also if you hone use file fit rings for exact fit in the offending cylinder.Good luck

[86Shelby]

Yes, cleaning the bore if you hone is a MUST. Water with detergent and then wiping dry with a clean white cloth next until it comes clean and then immediately coating with oil. By the time you walk into the garage to get the oil the cylinder will have began to rust; have it on hand. I agree with Ken, that if the cylinder still shows good crosshatches don't hone. I personally have never done any honing by hand, I've done it all on a nice Sunnen machine. I guess I'm spoiled.

[wild thing]

I was under the impression from somewhere (some old BBC book I read when putting together my LS6) that 30 degrees was the hot ticket. Probably negligable difference, but it was a verifiably good resource. The motor made in excess of 1000 hp for 5 race seasons before I had to open it up because of smoke.

[Andre Parker]

I have used Sunnen hone machines for years. If you dont have a dial bore gauge, don't even try to hone. You can easily get an egg shapped cylinder if you are not careful. In reguards to these motors, they are in my opinion harder to hone than a say, chevy v8 due to the high nickle content. (Which is why you almost always find factory cross hatch marks still there.) Using a torque plate helps to get a round bore, but it also helps to have the ac brackets mounted as well to simulate the block distortion that comes from haveing everything bolted up. Hope this helps.