Question for the experts. What is your opinion concerning honing liners in a D4 engine that has been taken apart for inspection. Everything appears to be good including the ring gap except the liner bores are very shiny. Do you think it a good idea to touch them up with a hone or just reinstall everything as it was? I am going to have allot of RD4, 2T D4 and D8 2U and 14A parts to sell soon.
I thank you for your advice.

Yes don,t ever put pistons back in liners like that till you take the glaze off them. The best hone today is the ball type hone & maybe if you need one you can either borrow one from a dealer or a shop that has one.I don,t know how much one would be to buy one. If all fails then just use the old style expandable type hone but get that glaze out of there & doesn,t take much honing to get rid of it so don,t over do it.

I always deglaze the liner before fitting pistons with new rings.I use a tool that fits into an electric drill.It is a three legged tool that has carborundum pads on it.it is spring loaded.By deglazing the liner the rings bed in better.If its not done,there is a good chance of blow by past the ring.With the result of oil being expelled out of the exhaust and loss of power.Also beware if there is a lip at the top of the liner through wear.If realy bad this could damage the top ring.Also you should "gap" the ring.My rule if not sure is 003" per every inch of bore of the cylinder.Good luck.

The hone you described we had them at the shop & used them for years but then this ball type came out & worked so much better. It was almost like a round brush but the strands were wire & they had round balls of honing stones on each strand & looked like a christmas tree & at the shop we called them a christmas tree hone.I never positioned the ring gaps on the thrust side of the pistons but positioned them by staggering them on each side of the wrist pin bore & was taught that way to do it & never had a problem with any of them.

Yes, you do want to break the glaze off of the wall of the cylinder in order for the new rings to seat. One thing that needs to be mentioned is when you use a ball hone or any kind for that matter is that you have some kind of fluid to assist in the cutting process and it helps to keep the pores of the abrasive from getting loaded up with cuttings. Kerosine works quite well for this otherwise the first cylinder that you hone will have a good surface but as you go to each cylinder in turn you will have a lighter finish, causing blow-by. In these harder working and older engines you will want to have at least .oo4 inch of clearance for inch of bore however if you are glaze breaking an engine that is only being reringed the chances of having too small of a gap is unlikely.
Mike

Hello SJ,I have also used the ball type ones you described on 4000hp engines I used to ovehaul.You had to brace youself when using them as the bore diameter was 12".They gave a good finnish to the job and last longer than the spring loaded type.I used paraffin as a lubricant.As stated earlier the balls were less effective the more they were used.They tend to clog up with metal deposits off the liner.
Cheers
Martyn

I picked up a 3" ball hone from CarQuest last year ,it was around $45.00.
I also bought a 4-5/8" from Snap on, it was around $55.00. Our local
Snap-On guy carries a lot of alternative brands. Look up www.flex-hone.com

What I need to restate is that I am using the same rings over again as there was no detectable wear in them or on the liners but the liners seemed so very glazed which raised my question and I had no history on the condition of it. I thought it best to take it apart for inspection rather than install it and then find a problem.
I sure do thank you fellows for all your reply s and information. It is so good to know you all.

I never recommended using old rings over again but if you do then yes remove the glaze inside the liners by honing a little.I forgot to mention when I responded to your question but as Mike suggested use fuel oil or something with the hone stones, don,t hone them dry.

Thanks senior member,
You have clarified the matter very clearly and I should have emphasized that I was reusing the same rings clearer. I usually do not reuse rings either but these were in such good condition with proper ring gap. I probably should not have taken the engine apart because when I removed the valve cover and side inspection plate's it was clean as a new engine. It had been setting in a scrap pile though with no cover and I though sure it had gotten rain into it through the uncovered intake manifold.
Thank you very much.