Bought a 99' GSR longbock a few months ago but it didnt have the vin plate on it so i bought a bare 98' GSR short block with a legit vin plate on it and Im going to swap the internals over since i already planned on doing bearings and piston rings with ITR pistons. The problem is there is some rust in the cylinders. Was wondering if you guys think it should be bored or just honed? Or could i clean it with brake cleaner or something? i have already used wd40 and it got a lot off but not anymore. I really dont want to go .25 over because I already have the standard size piston rings and there is only 110k on this engine. I am posting pics of cylinders 4,3,2,1 in descending order.

 

u can use atf to clean the rust out of walls

 

Use a ball hone.

 

Ill try ATF first then. Do i just drench a rag in it and then try and wipe? Should i buy a ball hone? or is it worth a little bit more to have it done by professional? I mean it seems easy enough

 

If the atf doesn't work: Measure, hone, measure, hone. Measure your pistons and make calculate your piston to wall clearance. If things start to look loose before the walls clean up, its worth your time to go OS.

I made this mistake the first time I built a motor, I already had pistons and rings but I had to hone until the p2w was a little wide. Ring gaps were still fine but a little on the loose side, so the rings didn't last too long once the motor started getting pounded on.

 

The ball hone should get rid of the rust without making the cylinder larger or requiring larger pistons. A rigid hone, like what is used at professional race shops, will make the cylinder larger and require larger pistons, however, if the cylinder is tapered or out-of-round, it will be fixed in the rigid hone.

 

I was always taught to stay away from the ball hones though. Whats your opinion on that? (Just curious, I never discussed WHY)

 

Okay if i bring it to a machine shop will they be able to do a ball hone or only rigid hones? really want to stay standard sized

 

If nothing else they should be able to give you a solid professional opinion. Its really hard to judge how much work that block needs with a pic, but I guarantee you that a machinist will be able to run a finger around those bores and tell you in a hurry what you can and can't get away with.

 

So i cleaned it up some more a machine shop quoted me at $100 for honing and $200 for boring that seems really expensive to me. I cleaned it up with ATF wd40 and a green scotch brite pad and it helped but im mainly concerned with pic number 1. I hope using a scotch brite pad didnt do any damage i didnt go up in down but in side to side in a circle

 

I've used them before and they work great, especially when you don't want to open up the bores anymore, but a rigid hone is better.

That sounds about right. I usually see $20-$25 a hole to be honed. Boring is a different process and removes a lot more material. Not to mention, when you bore the cylinders they will need to be honed afterwards as well.

 

yeah the $200 includes honing. Well if that sounds about right i think ill go thru that shop because they actually know what they are doing. I want to take it to somewhere i trust.

Do you guys think the scotch brite pad could of messed up the cylinders. i can see slight scratches in the cylinder now that arent from cross hatching but r the same direction as them.

 

post recent atf with a rag let it get real saturated if not take to the shop 100 sounds bout right for a good hone good luck bc garage

 

Im just going to cough up the 100 bucks and have it done. Do you guys think the scotch brite messed up the cross hatching. its going the same way as the cross hatch but not exactly with it...

 

I'm sure it will be fine with a real machined hone. If you see the way we rebuild race motors when they need to get done ASAP and be back out there... steel wool has been used on the cylinders lol. Don't laugh though, an old NASCAR secret when the rings wouldn't seat nicely was using powder detergent stuff to scratch up the insides and as crazy as it sounds they would seal right up and hold compression. But since you are not on a time crazy build leave it to the machinist.

 

Haha I remember my dad telling me the same thing way back in the day...

 

No need to bore. A hone would take care of that, but if you feel like a shop should do it then let them do it for $100.00.

 

Yeah cus if its $60-$70 for a ball hone then i might as well cough up an extra $55 to have a shop do it perfectly

 

Around here they charge $15 a hole for hone/bore

 

It's worth the $$ to have a machine shop hone it. I charge $15 a hole here in NY.

 

Found another reputable shop that does all of N1 Concepts engine builds and they charge $75 for honing, $150 for boring and $75 for resurfacing the deck. Those are much better prices.