Honing cause damage?

[wolverine_05_]

I heard from a first hand source that honing a cylinder causes the nikasil coating to flake. Everyone else said it was good though. What do you guys think?

[William1]

Try a second source. This time, a reputable one.

 

Properly done, running the correct hone through a nikasil barrel will only scrape the glaze off and not even scratch the plating.

[bratnetwork]

A regular stone style hone will barely make a mark in it. Maybe people are loading the crap out of them to try to get some material out and they are damaging. When I worked in an engine shop we couldn't touch them with our standard stones. I was told that in order to do it you need a diamond hone, but my boss was unwilling to purchase the right setup to enter that market.

[JBFL]

I'm with Bill.

[Kawabuggy]

You'd be surprised how many people will flat out tell you that "YOU CANNOT EVER ATTEMPT TO HONE A NIKASIL CYLINDER WITHOUT DESTROYING IT!!!!!'.

 

I have a friend that I had this conversation with. I finally just agreed with him and let it go. For the record, I have honed many a Nikasil'ed cylinder with no detrimental effect. I was not trying to remove metal, just clean up any remaining piston, or ring material, and glaze.

[wolverine_05_]

And that's all I'll be trying to accomplish. I'm gonna send it off anyways to get it done professionally anyways. The guy I heard it from apparently did it to his yz250 and it got screwed up. Whatever though; we get in debates about stuff all the time about bikes.

[Wild Alaskan]

Maybe if the nikasil is worn through already it would do more damage to it. I have ran a flex hone through 10 different cylinders with zero problems with nikasil flaking

[Euro Enduro]

I was told by a reputable source that if a hone isnt available, you can use approx 600 emery cloth

[pomoco]

Honing can be a problem if the cylinder is not cleaned properly afterwards. It needs to be thoroughly cleaned, more attention to a two stroke since it has ports to collect debris. No honing is better than honing with poor cleanup. My manual says not to hone. If you have visual wear the hone job isn't going to help anyway.

[1987CR250R]

I was told by a reputable source that if a hone isnt available, you can use approx 600 emery cloth

 

The truth is, if a hone is not necessary..  If there is anything that needs to be cleaned out of a cylinder brown Scotch-Brite works marvelously.

[Euro Enduro]

The truth is, if a hone is not necessary..  If there is anything that needs to be cleaned out of a cylinder brown Scotch-Brite works marvelously.

 

I've heard that too. Thanks for the tip!

[Freestyle-MX-Racer]

I heard from a first hand source that honing a cylinder causes the nikasil coating to flake. Everyone else said it was good though. What do you guys think?

honing will not do anything bad..

[1987CR250R]

The important thing to remember here is that there are so many opinions on what is right because nothing is wrong.  It does not matter what you do, it will still work.  That's why I side with doing nothing because it saves you money on the hone and it STILL works.

[JBFL]

After I've honed a couple times I'll take 400 to 600 and redo all the port edges. Through time they can get sharper edges and reduce ring life. Then once it's over .005 out it's time to start thinking about sending it off to be redone.

[ScootMcGoot]

The only time I have heard of a hone damaging a plated cylinder is if you were to use a ball hone on a 2-stroke cylinder. The balls can catch on one of the ports and chip the plating. Other than that a typical hone won't even scratch the plating as others here have mentioned.