gcb951

Hey,
I'm looking for a Sunnen AN cylinder hone tool. It's the kind that you use with a normal electric drill. If anyone has one I would be happy to buy it or rent if from them for a reasonable price. I would buy the new stones and paste to do the silicon/aluminum coating, you wouldn't have to worry about me wearing out your stuff if anyone is willing to rent it out. I am an honest person and I am not looking to steal anything from anyone. I just want to get my cylinders honed and start rebuilding my damn car so I can get it up and running for this spring/summer. Please let me know if you can help. Thanks.

eospeed

Why not send it out an get it honed with a deck plate while they run water through it to bring it to temp that is the best way to do it .Without a deck plate why bother honing it ?It wont be round when the head gets bolted on it will be oval or have high an low spots.

Ski

hmmm, did you heat up the pistons to the same temp to make sure you get the needed tolerance?

there was a person here who had the tools and holder, even a few stones, brush/felts left...if he doesn't chime in I'll pm him.

gcb951

Okay,
I should have been a bit more clear. All I want to do is break the glaze, re-coat the silicone/aluminum, and re-set the rings. I don't mean to actually take any meat off the cylinders. I would take it to a machine shop but I don't have the money for them to do it there way and besides, I don't have any trust worthy engine repair places around here anyway. And I don't want to have to ship the motor out someplace because that would cost as much as getting the motor worked on. But, eospeed is right. If you get a real hone job done, it would be best to have a deck plate.

Ski

Deck plate is true but as for our blocks, most of them that I have been associated with, have been done with the girdle in place, which greatly assist the block in the machining process. The shop we use actually had to make one since they started doing so many engines but the first two they did for us were W/O a deck plate and they have been running for over 3 yrs now.

One of the biggest challenges for our engines after many, many miles is a STRAIGHT bore, since the cylinders are at a slight angle.

Yes, you can cut the glaze with the felt/paste, but make sure you check the ring gaps for tolerance before you just barge in and install everthing.

I'll pm Chris and see if he still has the tools for loan. Just a suggestion here, I would be more for loaning something to a rennlist member than non-member.

DAR951

Bret,

What Chris has won't work in a hand drill... Go ahead and double check, but unless he has some new stuff, his hone is intended to be used with a boring bar.

I PM'd gcb951 with a source, but I might be willing to rent mine if that doesn't work.

Ski

I thought so Don but I couldn't remember. I pm'd him anyway, as I'm getting ready to pull an engine for a friend and thought if he still had it, I might need to add it to inventory. full rebuild on an 86, we're going to take our time on it, intend to have it ready by June - he's a FedEx pilot so our schedules only allow certian time to work on the car.

snappy

Would a flex-hone tool not work? They are made for just this thing, hand drill based and they seem to work from what I have read online, I have used them before to redo caliper seals and they removed the hairline scrapes and left a mirror finish, so for me it did that job fantastically. I also recently used them to do the final smoothing stage on my intake runners I used a 120 grit as suppose to the 320 I used on the caliper pistons. and again they delivered. I know they make larger ones for cylinders. I believe that all the 944 turbo's have a 100mm bore. so that is the equivalent of around 4". Make sure you get one that is for cylinder heads as it will have a longer shaft. Now what I do not know is which grit to recommend as i know they go from 120 to 320. I would imagine 320 but you would have to dig up more info on this. or hopefully someone can chip in here. From a quick search I found tons of them on the web. SO do so research. Even better phone up one of the larger companies and ask them. All in all from what I have read so far is they do come highly recommended and the price seems right. But dont take my word for it. Ask and read up. hope it helps.

* forgot to mention that only require a variable speed drill and cost from around $5 to $50 and nothing else.

Pauerman

I've got a Sunnen AN 112 cylinder hone tool - it's the kind you use with an electric drill. I found a reputable machinst locally that works with Alusil cylinders, so I'd be williing to let my honing tool go. Shoot me a PM.

Vic

snappy

so digging around a bit more i found some interesting reports. there seems to be ALOT of people that say you should never re-hone with stones on Alusil. they seem to be just to rough and the change of you overdoing it and damaging or completely removing the thin layer Alusil. But they say the flex-hone grape bunch seems to do the job perfectly at about 15 up and downs. they seem to create the perfect cross-hatch pattern which the stones cannot recreate. interesting, never knew that. well the search goes on. I also read that some nascar teams use the grape bunch as well. But need to find more supporting facts.

David Floyd

Here you go snappy

http://www.msi-motor-service.com/dow...ren/alu_en.pdf

snappy

hmm, interesting so the part on hone I just read, really deals with oversize to a larger size though, gcb951 seems to need only a "cleanup surface". So far the grapes seems good. interesting thing was that they use is a felt pad for the final stage. it actually removes some area, all be it incredibly small amounts. now back to reading that doc link David sent.

gcb951

Snappy,
What is the flex-hone grape? Wouldn't I still need to do the felt pad and paste process?

snappy

no pad, no paste noting, the grape bunch is just a way they refer to is. it looks like a bunch of small grapes. go onto ebay and search for "flex-hone" you will see what they mean. here is an example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Engin...QQcmdZViewItem

email them and ask them what you need for your application.

gcb951

Okay,
I know what your talking about now. But is that safe? I thought our cylinders had to be polished before putting new rings on the pistons? I have seen what the cylinders are supposed to look like before installing pistons/rings. The cylinders are smooth, no cross hatching. I could be wrong, thats why I come here, to find the answers. I fellow lister had a long list of before and after pic on a post he did on the process I am talking about. It also included a how not to do pic and it showed a a cylinder with cross hatching. I know that works for cast iron cylinders, but I am unsure as to what it would mean for our engines. I appreciate any feedback I get on this because after all it is kind of an important step in the re-build process. Thanks again for the info.