What hone to use to cut glaze and prep cylinders

Post by **Bruce Fenstermacher** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 1:44 am

I'm reinstalling my cylinders on my Cub and using new rings. I of course want to hone the cylinder to cut the glaze and prep the cylinder to break in the new rings.

What type of hone are those that have done this using. A 3 stone cylinder hone? A ball or flex hone? What grit? What abrasive?

These cylinders are chromed if that makes a difference.

blueldr · Post by **blueldr** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:00 am

If you're just breaking the glaze and cleaning up the cylinders for a "Top", a "Dingleberry" hone seems to work best for me on this kind of job.

Post by **Bruce Fenstermacher** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 1:19 pm

Yes BL before the world with the internet with more information than you want at your finger tips I would have just gotten a "dingleberry" hone (what a technical name

). they are also known as "Ball" or "Flex" hones.

But alas besides several names they now come in several flavors ie abrasive types and grits.

Yes I'm just breaking the glaze for a reinstall with new rings after a tear down and rebuild to replace the crank, 75 hours after overhaul. (eeerrrrrrrr)

mrpibb · Post by **mrpibb** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:00 pm

Hey Bruce, a 4" flex hone or a tad smaller for the A series would do the trick, on a chrome a quick hit with a 240 grit along with honing oil should suffice. make sure the cylinder is cleaned thouroughly before assy (but you know that).

Post by **Bruce Fenstermacher** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:27 am

Thanks Vic. I bought a 4 1/8" flex hone 240 grit but have yet to use it. C-85s which is the engine cylinders I'm doing have the same bore as our C-145 at 4.065". The 4 1/8th" flex hone has a range of 4" to 4 1/8th".

Post by **GAHorn** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 6:52 pm

A pretty good article for break in (including notes about channel-chrome) is: http://occonline.occ.cccd.edu/online/rf ... 0Right.pdf Another is: http://www.shell.com/static/aviation-en ... 2_2007.pdf

Use mineral (non-AD) oil and run it hard until consumption stabilizes and cyl. head temps fall.

Channel-chrome is made by short periods of electrolysis current-reversal. Don't be too aggressive with re-honing. All you want to do is remove any existing glaze.... not actually polish channels out .... or remove chrome material. (Flood the cylinder with safety-solvent while honing. Do not use flammable solvent. Keep a good "up-and-down" movement during honing to produce a "figure-8" pattern in the cylinder. Don't over-do it when honing. Just rough it up a bit. Ten-seconds is a lot.)