Im going to be building up my motor once summer hits and im wondering if I should hone the cylinder walls. I've got a sohc zc, its under 50k (or so im told) I would rather not hone if i don't have to but i would kick myself if I started to burn oil. I read a couple topics on honing, and some guys said its hard, some said its not, I'd be honing it myself if i do hone my cylinders. I'd also go for 0.5mm overbore with the pistons, would this be hard to accomplish with a honing tool? Any input is helpful, thanks!

 

If you're sure there's no surface damage or taper to the bore, I'd just recommend flex honing the surface to give the rings something to seat into. You should definitely prep the cylinder bores each time you rebuild, the new assembly needs to work itself into use properly and this won't happen without a fresh bore surface.

 

would that leave the bore close enough to 75 mm to use 75mm pistons or should i get 75.1 or whatever

 

You don't need different pistons. Do you know what a flex-hone is?

 

one of those fellows with the abrasive ***** on it right?

 

Yep, exactly right. I've known a few people who've done just a surface cleaning with them before on an otherwise perfect block and all of those engines are still running fine and generating good compression. It's the cheap and easy answer to your question.

 

thanks for the information. do you know what grit they used? most i see are 120 grit, which seem pretty practical for surface cleaning

 

Never thought to ask that actually. I'll see if I can get that info.