Cylinder hone...necessary or not?

[onekidneywonder]

Im going to be doing a complete teardown on my bike this winter.  New crank all the way up to the head (not sure what im doing with the head yet tho)  I was wondering if it is necessary to hone the cylinder before putting a new piston in.  I believe with the nikisil plating you cant really "hone" the cylinder but you can take some of the glaze off and put fresh hatch marks in.  My next question is what grit should I get?  Ive been looking at some bead hones and they come in 120,180,240,320,600 and 800 grit.  Not sure which one would be best.

 

Thanks!

[BDubb106]

If you are just interested in deglazing the cylinder, a scotch brite pad will do the trick. You really need to know what you are doing with a hone or you will ruin the very thin layer of nikisil.

 

If your hatch marks are gone you would be better off in the long run to just get a replate.  

 

Just my .02. 

[91kdx25088]

Would a complete teardown from the crank all the way up to the head include sending your cylinder out to get replated? If so they will take care of that for you.

[dakh]

Unless something went really wrong or the cylinder has some ungodly amount of hours on it they seem to still be looking pretty Ok and have lots of crosshatch.

[nesc103y]

The OEM plating is so hard on these cylinders you need special equipment to actually hone them. 

Scotchbrite as was mentioned earlier is the best home option to remove glazing

 

If your cylinder is worn or damaged Look on Ebay and sometimes find CylinderWorks replacement cylinders for less then $200 shipped to your door.

I recently bought a KX250F cyl for $170.

[Eddie8v]

Muriatic acid (wear gloves) on a rag to remove any trace aluminum out of the cylinder & hone lines, then a maroon ScotchBrite pad scuffing = good as new in 6 minutes.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Eddie8v

[moto867]

I like to use a brush hone or ball hone to break the glaze. Just don't use a mechanical hone or one of those cheesy spring loaded hones.

[onekidneywonder]

As far as I know the cylinder should be in good shape, so im not planning on sending it out.  It looked ok when I put the last piston in about 70 hours ago.  The bike is a 2005 though with an unknown amount of hours on it.  I only know what hours I have put on it.  Ill spec the cylinder when I get it all apart to make sure its still usable.  I don't foresee any issues so I was planning on just running a bead hone (or ball hone, which ever you want to call it) down the cylinder a couple times.  I did this the last time but no longer have access to the hone I used so was looking to buy one but didn't know what grit I should get, or if it really matters.  I do have plenty of scotch brite at home as well.  I have priced out a new cylinder and have found them for 180 I believe. Would like to not have to replace it if I don't have to though, getting the cylinder head fixed is going to be quite pricy I think.

[TDW]

As far as I know the cylinder should be in good shape, so im not planning on sending it out.  It looked ok when I put the last piston in about 70 hours ago.  The bike is a 2005 though with an unknown amount of hours on it.  I only know what hours I have put on it.  Ill spec the cylinder when I get it all apart to make sure its still usable.  I don't foresee any issues so I was planning on just running a bead hone (or ball hone, which ever you want to call it) down the cylinder a couple times.  I did this the last time but no longer have access to the hone I used so was looking to buy one but didn't know what grit I should get, or if it really matters.  I do have plenty of scotch brite at home as well.  I have priced out a new cylinder and have found them for 180 I believe. Would like to not have to replace it if I don't have to though, getting the cylinder head fixed is going to be quite pricy I think.

 

Imo if the cyl doesnt have many hours on it and hasnt had several piston replacements already a scotchbright pad would probably be fine, but with alot of hours and several years of use a brush hone is the way to go. I use a 240AO brush and it works real well, Im sure a finer grit would work fine to.