flex hone to deglaze cylinder

What grit ball hone do you guys recommend to finish the cylinder walls with? The motor only has 5 or 6,000 miles since rebuild but it's been sitting for years., doesn't need much. It has chrome moly rings if that makes a difference. Thanks, Lee

5-6000 miles does it even need rings?

They look fine so I wasn't going to change them. Does that mean I don't need the ball hone?

I've done it with out honing them before. Other may not share my opinion on the subject.

I've just cleaned them with the big brush from a Moroso kit and put new rings on. My 514 ran fine like this. Bore/finish looked good too. Does it even need rings?

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't plan to change the rings just thought I should run a hone down there. After some more searching I found a site that sells the hones and listed a bunch of ring manufacturer's recommendations. 400 was the grit for moly's.

No need to hone unless your replacing the rings...... Don't need to break them in twice.

If you use the old rings and run a ball hone through the bores it will probably "blow-by" for a lot of miles until the bore surface mates to the rings again.

As for OLD bores ... a ball type de-glazing hone may prepare the bores for new ring faces but, it certainly will not make that bore straight & round.

7.5L1985GT wrote:What grit ball hone do you guys recommend to finish the cylinder walls with? The motor only has 5 or 6,000 miles since rebuild but it's been sitting for years., doesn't need much. It has chrome moly rings if that makes a difference. Thanks, Lee

"Flex hone" and "ball hone" mean two different hones to me. If this is a street-strip vehicle with just 5000-6000 miles, then a simple ball hone (aka "dingleberry" hone)to break the glaze and/or establish a new cross-hatch should be adequate for seating the re-used rings.

Paul

Paul Kane wrote:

7.5L1985GT wrote:What grit ball hone do you guys recommend to finish the cylinder walls with? The motor only has 5 or 6,000 miles since rebuild but it's been sitting for years., doesn't need much. It has chrome moly rings if that makes a difference. Thanks, Lee

"Flex hone" and "ball hone" mean two different hones to me. If this is a street-strip vehicle with just 5000-6000 miles, then a simple ball hone (aka "dingleberry" hone)to break the glaze and/or establish a new cross-hatch should be adequate for seating the re-used rings.

Paul

X2,I've did that w/good results.

As other have said if you are not replacing the rings leave the bores alone. If you currently do not have a ring seal problem messing with it can only possibly cause one. If you have a ring seal issue then you need a new set of rings and a proper honing to make sure the bores are true and have the proper finish.

Ball honing is really only to be used on a bore that considered not tapered or out of round and normally used to establish a proper finish for use with new rings. It does require proper technique on the part of the operator. Sometimes if the bore finish looks good it can be better to not hone even when using new rings.

BTW no difference between ball and flex hone are just brand names. Here is a good read on the subject these types of hones:

http://www.brushresearch.com/faq.php

My experience w/ball hone was back in the days before all the HoopLah of "don't ever use a ball hone because it will mess up your bores". I was running a 427 mr at the time and it was tired after many runs and needed a rebuild. I purchased a ball hone that was as close to my bore as I could get. I used it as described in directions,by just honing enough to get a nice cross hatch. The rings seated normally w/o issue and the ole FE was running just as strong as always. I'am in NO way promoting the use of one of these hones over a good Machine shop hone job,but I do thing that used properly can do the job in a pinch, especially in a street engine. JMO

I'm sure glad I asked because it looks as though I was about to spend unnecessary $, do more work and possibly cause problems. Thanks again! Lee