What should I expect as a decent price for this? I figured tank + hone should be less than 100 easy, just wondering what prices generally are. Also, if a shop uses a machine to do the honing (not by hand) will they be able to give the recomended 60degree crosshatching or is it pretty much just guesswork? And 1 last thing, how do you guys clean up the tops of your pistons? Wire brush? Brillo pad and simple green? Any tips are appreciated.

Background : Got an old a6 block laying around, gonna do my first rebuild on it, all the bearings, seals, bolts...reusing the rods and pistons, just need to get the **** cleaned up as 196k miles of buildup isnt pretty. The old bearings look in top shape, no scoring or anything, good old a6.

 

I would like to know this too.

 

I cleaned up my pistons in a parts cleaner tank with a wire brush and some time....the machine shop I went to said that they wouldnt recoment putting an aluminum block into a hot tank..so I just had them bore it out and they micropolished the crank and took the stripped timing belt tensioner bolt out for 75 bucks. I would get new bearings if I were you..also I would save yourself the time and searching and buy a full gasket set instead of peice by peice cause that sucks. Good luck with it...if u need any help u can ask me

 

I just checked around my area. A valve job and a hot tank cleaning for my block and head is gonna cost me around $125. For a Hone, the guy is charing +$50. That's kind of a rip off..honing is just getting a rotor drill with the attachment and u know going down the cylinders. IMO, I would definitely replace your bearings..that's what I did. I never quite reuse old parts in my rebuilt engines. Just doesnt make any sense to rebuild again later on. Oh if your looking for gasket kits? I suggest you check with Prostreet Online (http://www.prostreetonline.com). They have OEM Engine Gasket kits and Timing Belt kits for really good prices.

Best of luck

-Jon

 

a hone will be guess work for angle on cross hatching. it should be between around 45-60, depending on speed of thrust. as for the price, my old shop would charge +-50 for honing, +-25 for a hot tank if it could fit. usually the blocks didn't fit in so my guy that worked there would bead blast it for me.

 

I am definitely interested in prices for this as well. Though I have heard from several people you cannot hot tank Honda blocks. This is due to the fact that they are aluminum and will just melt.

Is this true or false? Has any one ACTUALLY DONE IT? Or if you used some other method to clean the block up nice and shiny like what was it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FairlightRacing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am definitely interested in prices for this as well. Though I have heard from several people you cannot hot tank Honda blocks. This is due to the fact that they are aluminum and will just melt.

Is this true or false? Has any one ACTUALLY DONE IT? Or if you used some other method to clean the block up nice and shiny like what was it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The oldschool way of hot-tanking couldnt be done on aluminum deals, nowadays theres different chemicals used, much less harmful to the enviro etc. Plus there are other ways of cleaning a block that can be commonly called "hot-tanking". At least this is the info I've gathered reading up on the subject. I appreciate everyones input, and for the guy talking about re-using my bearings, I'm not, just noting that they were in excellent condition even after 196k. And thanks to fluffy for the link to the gasket kits, much appreciated as I was going to order them piece by piece from Majestic.

 

a hot tank is perfectly safe for aluminum. the only thing in a hot tank is water and a solution of chemicals that are safe (since theres a ban on harmful chemicals in shops now). the hot tank only works at a couple hundred degrees. it mostly steams and pressure washes rather than really cooking things. the big reason you can't hot tank any block is because alot of hot tanks simply can't fit a block. the things being hot tanked have to fit in a basket


usually hot tanking anything is really cheap at a machine shop. if you're having work done on the part most of the time its free because they need to work on a clean part. honing is about 10-20 a cylinder from my experience.