Need help honing my engine

Baw289 · Jan 9, 2006

This is my first engine rebuild. I'm down to the block and the internals, the clyinders look good so I just need to hone them, put a new set of rings and bearings in. I have a little lip at the top of the clyinders, I have been told that has to come off. I dont want to mess up my block, so can anyone give me some advice on which hone to get or if I can I can that little lip off by hand? I'm a college kid with not much money so I would like to do it myself and not take it to a machine shop. Thanks for the help.

xoxbxfx · Jan 9, 2006

never seen teh little lip on teh top of teh cylinders you are talking about. I would assume they were there when it ran, im sure its fine if it there when you rebuild. Use plenty of lube and just hone the cyl

strange65 · Jan 9, 2006

You remove that lip with IIrc a ridge reamer, very simple to use , almost foolproof. When you hone your cylinder's you want to have a crosshatch pattern.

68_stanger · Jan 9, 2006

yup, a ridge reamer will remover the "lip" then you can hone til you get a nice cross hatch.

Baw289 · Jan 9, 2006

How do you get a crosshatch pattern?

strange65 · Jan 9, 2006

If you are using a drill , do it at a slow rpm. Move the hone up and down rapidly.
you want a x pattern so it looks like this xxxxxxxx uniformly the lenght of the cylinder.
This helps retain the oil on the cylinder. Should only take maybe 20-30's seconds per cylinder, the cross hatch should be at a 45 degree angle- Not the drill or the hone you want that straight as possible. Make sure you wash each cylinder off with water and soap, dry them off and then coated them lightly with oil.

Edit: " Not the drill or the hone you want that straight as possible."
I meant as straight as possible but inline with the cylinder.

Baw289 · Jan 9, 2006

Hey thanks strange. I'm looking at rebuild kits, I need gaskets, rings, and rod bearings. Do you prefer one make over the other or are most of them decent? Thanks

strange65 · Jan 10, 2006

Been along time since I rebuilt a engine. Some of the younger guy's might be able to help you there. I use to swear by Federal-Mogul on the bearings, Perfect circle rings, and Fel-Pro was our brand of gaskets back then.

Hack · Jan 10, 2006

Baw289 said:
This is my first engine rebuild. I'm down to the block and the internals, the clyinders look good so I just need to hone them, put a new set of rings and bearings in. I have a little lip at the top of the clyinders, I have been told that has to come off. I dont want to mess up my block, so can anyone give me some advice on which hone to get or if I can I can that little lip off by hand? I'm a college kid with not much money so I would like to do it myself and not take it to a machine shop. Thanks for the help.

Be careful here. I'm no expert, but if you have a ridge that means you're going to have taper in your cylinders. You can't remove the ridge completely with a ridge reamer. If it's a small ridge it should be removed through boring the block. You should really measure the amount of taper before deciding to hone rather than boring. Maybe someone on the forum is near you and has a bore mic. Or you could use a ring and a feeler gage to measure taper.

Rebuilding an engine is a lot of work and a lot of money. It could all be down the drain in record time if you skip steps or get something wrong. From "How to Rebuild Small-Block Ford Engines" by Tom Monroe..
if you just want a "band-aid " job on you engine so it will go another 10,000 or 20,000 miles before you're back where you started, you can get away with reringing a block which has some cylinders measuring as much as 0.010" taper (0.008" measured by the ring and feeler method).

Measure the taper at a minimum so that you can make an educated decision. I recommend you buy and read a book on building engines, or check it out from the library.

strange65 · Jan 10, 2006

He will be okay. On a high mileage engine there is a ridge at the top of the cylinder that you can catch with your fingernail. Since the piston does not travel that high , you simply remove it with a ridge rimmer. I did mean to ask if he stamped the internals for each cylinder.

5.0ina66 · Jan 10, 2006

strange65 said:
He will be okay.

Maybe, maybe not. I'll side with Hack here...don't measure the taper, and your just screwing around

strange65 · Jan 10, 2006

The piston does not reach this area, so taper has nothing to do with it.
Here's a quick guide for him
http://www.goodheartwillcdownloads/samplechapters/AutoEnc11.pdf#search='ridge%20reaming%20piston'ox.com/
That will guide from engine removal to reassembly

strange65 · Jan 10, 2006

If he does not remove it, he will not be able to get the piston out the top because it will hit on this lip.

69Rcode_Mach1 · Jan 10, 2006

Hack said:
Be careful here. I'm no expert, but if you have a ridge that means you're going to have taper in your cylinders. You can't remove the ridge completely with a ridge reamer. If it's a small ridge it should be removed through boring the block. You should really measure the amount of taper before deciding to hone rather than boring. Maybe someone on the forum is near you and has a bore mic. Or you could use a ring and a feeler gage to measure taper.

Rebuilding an engine is a lot of work and a lot of money. It could all be down the drain in record time if you skip steps or get something wrong. From "How to Rebuild Small-Block Ford Engines" by Tom Monroe..
if you just want a "band-aid " job on you engine so it will go another 10,000 or 20,000 miles before you're back where you started, you can get away with reringing a block which has some cylinders measuring as much as 0.010" taper (0.008" measured by the ring and feeler method).

Measure the taper at a minimum so that you can make an educated decision. I recommend you buy and read a book on building engines, or check it out from the library.

Beat me to it, I was going to point out the same thing. Lip is bad news, and always check for taper no matter how new the engine seems, it is easy, and cheap insurance.

Hack · Jan 11, 2006

taper

Most of the wear on the cylinder bore takes place at the top of the piston stroke. This is because the rings are designed so that combustion pressure can get behind them and actually help to seal against the cylinder wall. So the rings are forced most tightly against the cylinder wall at the point where a tight seal is most necessary.

As the piston goes down the bore, the pressure decreases and so does the wear. This leads to taper of the bore. If you don't deal with this taper it means that the rings have to flex open and closed on every stroke of the piston. It also means that the ring gap will not be correct along most of the piston's stroke, which will cause increased blowby and reduced engine power.

In case you think I'm making this up, Tom Monroe also explains this in his book.

zookeeper · Jan 11, 2006

These guys are 100% right. You need to ask yourself a couple questions: why did you tear it down in the first place? If you don't have the money to fix it right, how will you have the money to do it twice? You may not want to hear these kinds of things, and trust me, we've all been there, but unless you measure the bore how do you KNOW it's going to be right? You don't, period. Trust me, your buddies' eye's are not accurate enough to measure cylinder taper and piston clearance without reading a micrometer. Take this opportunity to learn the basics and check and double check everything and you'll be MUCH happier when it's all said and done. That means measuring the cylinders and doing whatever you need to do to get the money to do it right. If that means borrowing money from family or friends, or working overtime or getting another job, so be it. Pistons and a fresh bore job are money well spent, especially compared to that horrible feeling when you've cut one too many corners on you rebuild and your rebuild is knocking and using oil the within the first few hours and you need to do it again. Please don't take this as an insult, because its not, but if you don't know what the proper cross-hatch pattern is for a cylinder, how do you know that they are ok as is? There is nothing wrong with not boring your block if it doesn't need it, but you DO need to measure it (now is a fine time to learn to read a micrometer) and verify what you're starting with. As I said before, we've all been there and I'd be glad to answer any questions I could along the way, but you need to verify your foundation is solid first.

302 coupe · Jan 11, 2006

pretty much backing up some of these other guys, but if you have a ridge, you have worn cylinders and need to have it bored. Honing will help seat new rings but that is it. The cylinder will be tapered (cylinder diameter varies) and it is not uncommon for them to become egg shaped instead of round. If the cylinder is worn enough to produce a ridge at the top, that also means the piston itself is now too small for the cylinder, and your new ring gaps won't ever be right either. I understand with you being in college that money is tight (just graduated a few years ago myself), but in this hobby you learn to do things once and do them right. Definately have a machine shop check the block for all critical dimensions, if it need to be bored so be it. New cast pistons, pins, and oversize rings won't set you back too much and it will make the enigne run much better and last longer.

Need help honing my engine

Baw289

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strange65

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