The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop deglazing for new rings 235

anyone used a good sunnen hone vs ball type
for deglazing cylinders?? would it be better to use ?
reason i am asking is because i already have one.
and will be tearing down engine to inspect cylinders.
engine sat not running about 20 years very low compression all cylinders.
thanks

I guess your meaning the drill operated of each type. The Sunnen will be good only if the shoes and stones are straight to begin with. Since the goal is to take out a minimum of material to break the glaze, crooked stones and shoes will make for an irregular sized cylinder until they true up, and by then you may end up taking out too much metal or making the bore crooked or tapered as well, so a ball type may be a better alternative in that case.

I like the ball hones, the cylinders do not need to be as straight as they do for the ridged stone deglazing tool. The Sunnen type try to cut to much and only hit the high spots, where as the ball type follow the cylinder shape.

I also like to use spray soap for a coolant, something like Castrol degreaser, 409, or similar product. Its much easier to clean up block when done. You really need to get in there and scrub the bores after you are done. After all, you are just trying to roughen the bores a little.

Joe

If there is more than .005" of cylinder taper, you're going to have a short-life ring job regardless of how you deglaze the cylinders. Here's a quick way to check: Put a compression ring into the cylinder and square it up against the top of the ring travel, about 1/4" from the top of the block. Stack up feeler gauge blades to measure the ring gap. Push the ring to the bottom of its travel with a piston, and measure again. Subtract the bottom reading from the top, and divide by 3. The result will be a good estimate of taper. If it's over .005" the rings will be constantly changing diameter to try to maintain contact with the cylinder walls. At 2,000 RPM, that diameter change is happening 66 times a second. It doesn't take long for a ring to lose its tension doing that!

If you choose to deglaze and re-ring the engine, scrub the bore repeatedly with a stiff-bristle brush, strong detergent, and HOT water, then rinse several times with boiling water. If the cylinder doesn't flash-rust as soon as it dries, it's not clean enough.
Jerry