Thread: Honing, Is it a big deal?

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I don,t have a honing tool. What I have always done is take about a 120 sanding paper and clean out the cilinder bores so the rings could seat. Is that a No No, or is it that big a deal? I am at that point in rebuilding my 327. Should I Get hold of a honner or just hit with sand paper? Thanks, John.

There only around 40 or 50 buck for 1 and I think u can do many motors with it!!

SUM-W80560
www.summitracing.com
$29.95

look up www.goodson.com flexible hone will do a good job. this is a silicon -carbide globules hone .berry ball hone. they are the best for re ring job and they will last a very long time

Sandpaper?! YIKES!!!
Hone that thing man you don't want to mess around with yer oil...

Yes, the hone will last if you hide it. If your buddies, nephews and all know you have one they will want to borrow it. Then it will not last long at all. Not that i would not lend mine out.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DennyW
[B] They provide a very nice cross hatch, which is an ideal surface finish. (do you understand why you need a cross hatch finish ?)

....don't mean to high jack the thread, but why???

there is many ideas floating around on how much hatch and how coarse to fine with no hatch the ring may not get hook up .to coarse and you will loose power and is hard on some types of rings i use the sunnen AN type hone at the bottom of dennys pic with a deck plate with main caps torque up this will give you round hole and draw cylinders in to operating shape when done i use a ultra finish plateau hone this is for a more consistent finsh on the walls and take any microscopic peaks off the bore. this helps the rings hookup i use this type of hone on all my hone. jobs even if i use a ball type hone and make sure the walls are very clean . all honing grit must be gone. here is my home made hoing cabinet the block set in the cabinet and honing oil is pump on the bore

at my autoshop class we have both the stone brush type ( middle ) and the spring loaded spade type ( top ).

Originally posted by Johnwalkeasy
I don,t have a honing tool. What I have always done is take about a 120 sanding paper and clean out the cilinder bores so the rings could seat. Is that a No No, or is it that big a deal? I am at that point in rebuilding my 327. Should I Get hold of a honner or just hit with sand paper? Thanks, John.

The finish put on the cylinder walls is very important.With the wrong finish you might have problems with the rings seating.In other words you could lose h.p.If you have a coated ring (moly,plasma moly, etc.) and the finish is to rough you will flake the baked on coating right off the ring.Also the "cross hatch " pattern is very important.If you would look at the piston rings and cylinder walls under a microscope you would see peaks and valleys.When people talk about the rings being "seated" this means the rings and cylinders have smoothed out some of those peaks and valleys.

Can't say anything against doing the job with the right tool.

one thing: your previous motors: how well did they do?
50K+? 100K+? excellent power and compression?
If so, then keep doing what you are doing.

Hard to argue with success.

One other note that hasn't been mentioned. Other than the proper crosshatch angle,just make sure you do a thorough job on the cylinder walls but I would encourage you to not over do it. I always stop as soon as the entire wall is worked. And I've never had problems. Hatch every inch well and keep the proper angle.

Maybe I'm just to fussy, I still prefer my blocks bored and honed with deck plates installed and the honing done with a power hone like Pat's or a power stroke hone........ Spending a few extra bucks at the machine shop to get it done right results in a better engine, both power and longevity...... JMO

Originally posted by Dave Severson
Maybe I'm just to fussy, I still prefer my blocks bored and honed with deck plates installed and the honing done with a power hone like Pat's or a power stroke hone........ Spending a few extra bucks at the machine shop to get it done right results in a better engine, both power and longevity...... JMO

No you are not being to fussy.Every race in I have built in the last 5 or more years has been done on a BHJ.This may be a little over kill for a stocker type rebuild.Some people are a little shocked on the price of this machining option.

To each his own on this one. The usual hones had so much spring pressure I always felt like I was scoring the cylinders or taking off too much metal, so I started using the ball hones and I love them. I always get my blocks torque plate honed at the shop first, but If I dont assmeble in near future I like the thought of the ball hone befor assembly.