TOPIC:

There is a dry lubricant powder by total seal, recommended for dry break-in of used rings

I have used a ball hone to clean up cylinders on my 550's before. Drill and cheap engine oil, Just want to scuff up the walls and like you did, check for deep grooves. Once you have aquired the desired groove pattern, stop. Do a little at a time, and clean the bores as you go.







Just my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions... If you have to bore, then I'd go with 615 and be done with it. Stay with Wiseco, as there are other cheaper kits on the market, but I don't have any knowledge about them. Replacement parts for the Wiseco are out there for these kits. Stay stock for now, and just scuff up the bores and install a new set of stock rings. You can also use the pistons and cylinders from the ZX550 (1984-1986 GPz550) in place of your H Model Pistons.

Have fun!

That's some sweet crosshatching Corey!

Thanks Lou. It wasn't nothing much, just gotta know when to stop. Like Fletch says, "Hey! It's all ball bearings nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State."

Thank you all for your input. My ball hones are being delivered today and I'm looking forward to practicing this new still. I figured worst case scenario I bugger it up and I'm back to square one - finding new pistons or a new cylinder set.

Anyway, last nice I pulled the #1 piston and did a light 220 grit sanding on the grooved edges followed by a 1000 grit polishing. Not pictured, but I also cleaned up the ring grooves as well. I measured the piston after sanding and it's still well within specs - so that's good.

Last question - I did source some new, unused oil rings - not compression rings, just oil rings. Is it a good idea or bad idea to replace just the oil rings? After pulling them, the oil rings are clearly the ones that got stuck before...the top and bottom rings have corrosion while the two compression rings cleaned up well, just carbon.

The light makes the grooves look really bad, but if you close your eyes and use your finger tip or even finger nail you can't feel them:

**Edit** See next post for reposted images

Thanks!

-Matt

Well, Photobucket has lost me as a customer. Not only have I been trying to buy their service for the past week, but their stupid site doesn't even have a working "help" or any way to contact them to let them know that their checkout service isn't working. They've managed to kill all the links to all the photos I've posted over the past 10 years using their site. How frustrating.

Annnnnyway, here are the photos that i *tried* posting last week. I apologize, I'll try to go back and fix the other links later, but I don't really remember what all the images are.

Thanks!

-Matt

Well now that I've got that stupid image thing figured out I can give a decent update.

I received the ball hones last week and was able to get some pretty good results on cylinders #2-4. That said, the ball hone did nothing but make the #1 cylinder obviously too bad to use. I can't in good conscience put it back together as-is and eventually sell it on one day with a cylinder wall like that.

Sooo anyway, I decided to do something that some people are going to say is a bad idea, but I'd done *so much* reading and I'm convinced that it's not really that big a deal. I've purchased a 2nd oversize piston (1mm) on eBay and 2nd oversize rings (from friggin Sweden, and the guy is gone through the 13th...ugh). I'm going to borrow a balance from work this weekend and balance the two pistons. I know there is a displacement difference, but there are so many darned factors that affect power/cylinder that I don't think that minimal displacement change will make much of a difference.

Piston arrived today and I'm taking the cylinder and piston to the machinist tomorrow. Hopefully those darn rings will come in soon and I'll be able to button her up again.

Hey everyone, finally back with an update.

I just received my cylinders back yesterday. #1 cylinder is punched to the 1st oversize, all have been honed. Received the 1st over-sized rings yesterday as well.





I also started work on balancing the new piston to the old - granted my "scale" here isn't accurate - I have a new one arrived today that is accurate to 1/100th of a gram. That said, I still just wanted to get started on it.



Here's what I started with, the oversized piston it quite a bit heavier than the OEM sized piston.



After taking some weight off by the wrist pin. It is a lot closer, but still heavier. I stopped until I get my actual balance in to see where we are at. I don't want to take too much more material from the wrist pin area. Where else would you all suggest I remove material?



Thanks fellas, I'm getting real excited about having her whole again!

S/F,

-Matt

I have no idea how I missed your other posts, but you are making great progress.
In the past I have read threads about folks using one oversized piston with zero problems from viabration or otherwise.
I think what you are doing is the path of least resistance since the bore was too buggered up to use. (And probably the cheapest path as well.)
Keep up the good work!

Daftrusty wrote: I have no idea how I missed your other posts, but you are making great progress.
In the past I have read threads about folks using one oversized piston with zero problems from viabration or otherwise.
I think what you are doing is the path of least resistance since the bore was too buggered up to use. (And probably the cheapest path as well.)
Keep up the good work!

Wellll, I suppose I can forgive you Daftrusty, just this once

You're right though, I am kind of going with the path of least resistance while also wanting to do it "right"...if that's not a hypocrisy.

That said, I'm still @ 4.58g heavier with the +1.0 oversize piston (and rings). I'd really prefer to get that delta down to something closer to ~2 grams (a penny is 2.5g), but I honestly don't know where else to pull material. I'm thinking about doing some small divets into the bottom of the crown, just along the outer edge and also considering taking just about a mil from the bottom side of each skirt. Other than that...I'm not going to press my luck - this engine/bike has probably past its heyday of high-RPM revving though - so I'm not overly concerned about a small weight difference.

I am, however, more than open to ideas on how to better take some weight off the sucker.

I know nothing about the safest areas to remove weight from a piston. Hopefully someone knowledgeable can chime in.

I just know to order more wrist pin clips than you need. Every so often when fitting them, one will shoot halfway across the garage.
Nothing like paying $5 for shipping a 10 cent part.

Good times.

Well, I could just *punch myself* in the nads. I went out today and got a little too aggressive and ended up with the tinniest little pinhole on one side.

I thought I'd get cheeky and see about putting a slight amount of JB Weld as a filler to see if I could seal/strengthen it back up:


And from the other side:


Now I'm just utterly torn on whether this is a fine solution or whether I'm being beyond stupid to even consider running this piston. It's still 4g heavier than the OEM piston even with the material removed.

I'm looking into getting another liner (there is one on eBay now, but it's used) and then putting it in and having it honed, and probably decked. My machinest says that if you just keep it in the press while it cools you don't have to worry about them popping out.

This project is gonna give me an aneurysm...