I am currently buying parts for my build this summer, but I am unsure of when to bore and when to hone. WHat do I look for on the cylinders and so forth.

 

You want to look for scoring, and measure for excesive cylider wall taper/out of round. If you are building a new motor it's always a safe be to go up to the next size of piston (usually 0.010") and know that the cylider walls are good and true.

 

honing is to recondition the cylinders from scratches made by the pistons & rings, you clean it up like new again. it keeps bore close to stock. boring is if you want more displacement by enlarging the bore. you can bore out with a hone but it takes a while. if you want an increase of 1/2 mm then hone, more than that bore.

 

But remember you can only bore so many times before you need sleeves

 

Just pick a good machinist. It's the machinist call as to how he'll do the cylinder resizing. Just ask him to follow Honda's recommend finish honing specs.