Experience Mechanics Please - Cylinder Hone Question?

Question

I am trying to rebuild an old Tecumseh single cyclinder engine. I was wondering if I can use a drill driven cylinder hone to take off enough material to go .010 oversize on the piston and rings. Can this be done by hand with one of those hones?

Stock Cylinder is 2.500 inches

Answer 1

you will not wind up with a straight wall on the cylinder, but it can be done

Answer 2

I found this on the web site below

In a previous career (journeyman machinist) I did a lot of honing and never once
used the tool you describe, the one like a wire brush with abrasive balls on the
ends of the wires. My guess is that this would barely remove any surface dirt
because to hone something significant pressure must be exerted by the honing stones
to actually allow the abrasive to cut and remove metal.

I used (or at least I remember having in my tool box) a 3-stone honing tool (or two)
but I can't remember how it worked out, though I suspect it would face the same
limitation as the 1st tool you mentioned.

For cylinder bore work (and high-precision bearing stanchion work -- precision
required a half a thousandths (0.0005) within the nominal size (approx. 12") I used
a Sunnen portable honing setup with 4 stones and a rachet center feed which feed the
4 stones out in unision and allowed me to preload them to when I first started up
the hone, it was all I could do to hang on and keep the drill motor from spinning me
instead of the hone.

Had to be this way or the stones would have not cut any material but just loaded up
and glazed/galled the bores and ruined the bores in the process.

For measuring I had a dial bore gage setup with a 'tenths' dial gage.

A dial bore gage was very nice (and I used one for almost all of my honing/boring
jobs).

It was especially nice for the cylinder honing (but frankly was indespensible for
stanchion honing as well, because of the very tight tolerances) because one could
get a very clear picture of the bore's topology (roundness, taper, and size).

The Sunnen setup was not very difficult to use and in fact I think it was probably
as about idiot proof as any other setup, and maybe even more so. The setup did take
something out of you, that is, it was kind of strenous work, because in the case of
the cylinder bore honing in order to get the proper cross hatch pattern, I had to
move the hone up and done in the bore very quickly. In order to not take too much
material out of the bore and bring the cylinder wall/piston clearance out of spec, I
had to get the pattern into the finish and remove as little material as possible.

In the case of the bearing stanchions (and I honed lots of other bores too, too many
to list or even remember) there was the additional drag of the large hone stones.
Once I got the initial machining marks out of the surface, got the initial surface
roughness out of the bore, the stones made full contact with the bore surface and I
had to really hang on to the drill motor. It has additional handles, extensions, so
one could counter the twisting force the honing drag imparted to the motor. I had to
move the hone back and forth to make sure I took even amounts off the front and back
of the bore and take out any taper that the boring operation imparted to the bore
(though the bores were pretty round after the finish boring operation).

I had the proper type of stones (silicon carbide IIRC) and some good honing oil that
kept the stones open and cutting.

In the case of the engine bore honing, I managed to get the right surface finish and
still keep the size in tolerance. The engine just purred when I got everthing back
together.

And in the case of my professional honing, I never once took a bore oversize.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Answer 3

Nope honeing is good for about as much as the ring ridge at the top .001" to .004". Not saying a hone with gear mounted stones cannot do .010" with the engine sitting in a parts washer spraying solvent on the stones. But why? Burn out a good drill motor wear down $150.00 hone. For a $200.00 gasoline engine. Just go buy a new gasoline engine at Northern Tool. Tractor supply Co. or small engine shop.

Answer 4

You can, but you will be constantly measuring with a micrometer to make sure you have a good even hone. The best bet is to take it to a machine shop and let them hone it for you. They will have a true machine to do it with, without human clumsiness. On small engines I use the drill hones to just clean up and deglaze the bore, not to resize it. If you are using an oversize bore rebuild kit, I would rather have a precise bore.

Answer 5

When an engine is rebuilt the idea is to bore it out as little as necessary so it can be done again later if needed. However replacement pistons come in standard oversizes, usually 10, 20, 30 thou over, so if the bore is worn 6thou it would be bored 10 thou over to take an available piston size. Usually all cylinders are bored to the same size but some manufacturers make allsizes of piston for a particular engine weigh the same so if one cylinder is badly scored it can be bored out bigger and still be balanced. Your machine shop will measure the bores and tell you what needs to be done and the same applies to regrinding the crank. However If you are talking about OVERBORING the engine (to increase engine capacity) or "Stroking" the crank, then you need to specify what you want done.

Answer 6

Should Be Able To Do It With The Drill Hone.

Answer 7

I agree with maximus, you won't get an even straight wall in the cylinder by doing it that way. It can be done if you use I.D. mics and measure every few seconds to make sure you don't oversize the bore. Good luck !

Answer 8

i'm not too sure if i would try to do it that way ... i would just take it to a machine shop ... there are just too many variables that you have to consider then doing that type of work

Answer 9

Yes you should be able to, good luck, me assure constantly.