Cylinder honing

Success! After removing my head and using a combination of PB Blaster and tapping on the top of the pistons, I was able to free them up.

All but one of my cylinder sleeves (#3) are free from rust. One of hem has very slight surface rust.

All of the sleeves are smooth to the touch except #4 which has a very slight ridge. By feel I would say the ridge is less than 1/32".

I think I will need to hone my cylinders.

My question is, what grit should I get given the condition they are in? I was thinking 220-240 range to remove high stuff. I don't want to take off too much right?

I used a 220 grit ball hone and it worked perfectly. It takes enough off to do the job, but not enough to let you mess up easily.

The ridge is probably only carbon

How do I determine whether or not honing is needed. If I hone, can my piston rings be reused, or does that make ring replacement a necessity?

Man, your already there... hone & new rings!

You may be able to "rent" a drill hone attachment, and a ring compressor. Then since it's off, you might as well lap the valves, and new valve seals.

"TA DA"... cheap top end rebuild.(freshen-up)

This may be a silly question, but at what point do you need to go with larger than standard piston rings? I assume a honing would still mean std ring size yes?

The pistons for mine come in incremental sizes of +0.25mm which is about .010" increase. If your cylinder wear is .005" or more, you might want to do a hone and install +0.25mm rings if you are not replacing pistons and reboring. A rebore with new pistons would be best.

If the wear is less than .005", stock rings are better fit.

Jodyb17 wrote:

This may be a silly question, but at what point do you need to go with larger than standard piston rings? I assume a honing would still mean std ring size yes?

Your FSM will give you factory limits on bore size when boring is necessary. Beg/borrow/buy an inexpensive bore gauge (see eBay item 370379159028) to get an idea where you are and whether or not your cylinders need something more than a hone. If you can get away with a hone, then you use standard rings (and you might be able to do it yourself)...a bore will have to be done by a machine shop and you'll be buying oversize pistons and rings.