to hone or not to hone

[tumbiri]

Ok so basically pretty sure that this piston is done as the skirt coating has worn of i have heard about some kind of piston resurfacing though im not sure where i can get this work done as im in the uk (by this i mean refresh the skirt coating though i'm not sure if this is ho it is refereed to) . One thing that made me slightly worry is that when i took the cylinder off the top piston ring (compression ring i think) flared out when i took it off it still stayed in the groove but the end gaps where about 1/2 inch apart i don't know if this is normal i checked the end gap and  im not sure it was done correctly as its a big bore kit i dont know if the standard specs are different i would assume that they are similar and the .10 mm feeler gauge would fit but barely.

 

 

Anyway this leaves the what the post is all about. what do you reckon hone or not hone. i understand the basic principle of it to create a better seal with the piston rings and the cylinder but i have also heard that you can damage the rings doing this. I'm more inclined to do it than to not but just want to hear any reasons against doing or doing it. i know there are other posts about honing but of the ones i saw they weren't particularly useful in explanation so is there more to this or no.

 

anyways thank in advance hope that the images load      

 

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[flyandride]

There's no resurfacing a piston.  The cylinder can be bored to the next oversize and honed if it has an iron liner.  If it's a modern engine with a nikasil coated aluminum cylinder then you had best just get a new big bore or standard bore kit.  I've heard that the nikasil cylinders can be recoated and honed but by the time you do that you'd be better off just getting the new bore kit and knowing the piston, rings and cylinder are matched.  

[CaptainKnobby]

Nikasil is one of the hardest metals there is.  As far as honing goes.....its used to make that crosshatch pattern in your cylinder.and your right about it making the rings seal better.  A Ball hone is what you would use for this process an they are different grits.   It's been awhile since I was looking into this.  However I do know that you would want to use a "Flex ball hone" for Nikasil cylinders.  They come in different grits and if I can remember you would want something like a 240 to a 320 grit Flex ball hone,like I said its been awhile since I was looking into this stuff and its hard to remember.

 

Also You put this Flex hone into a high speed drill and lubricate the cylinder with kerosine and it only takes about 3 or 4 stroke in an out of the cylinder with the hone for it to be finished,best I can remember.

 

But all in all!............I dont think you would have to re hone your cylinder unless its just absolutely gone.

[tumbiri]

my cylinder still has the cross hatch its a i am assuming its a nikasil cylinder then as it is is a modern cylinder. i was more refering to honing as a process that is done when you change a piston or am i wrong. the cylinder looks fine i cant feel any scratches i am looking at replacing this piston i want to know if i need to hone the cylinder to do this. but i would not mind going back to the stock bore of 250  

[mog]

If it has a cross hatch I would just put in a new piston and ride it