The Cal-look Lounge

   For those of you who are building many VW engines which cylinder hone are you using and why. The three stones style or the ball style hone. And what type of fluid are you using while honing these cylinders.

Thanks
Frenchy

Sunnen with diamond stones

Frenchy,

Find someone who has a Sunnen CK10 and the right fixture to do VW barrels. It will get the cylinders the straightest and put the right cross hatch pattern in them. Ray Vallero in Auburn, California, is one of the only people I know who has done this for 40 years. He is the master at this if you want the cylinders straight.  He did all my motor machine work in the early to late 70's when I lived in the Sacramento area.  Mike Fischer may know someone who has one too.

Rick Mortensen

Ray has a video on YouTube of him honing a barrel and explaining it which is cool, I'll find it later.

Those ball hones, ie lots of balls on a bottle brush style mount will just make it look nice but won't make it straight as it'll just follow the current shape, you want to make the cylinder straight as mentioned above ;)

Berg's do it as well....Did the 90.5's on my engine.

For DIY the ball style is better, more aggressive. You need a large hand drill, lots of elbow grease and a big vice to keep the cyl steady otherwise you're not doing it right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goNVh8Dsspc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goNVh8Dsspc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDt_eRmii7Y (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDt_eRmii7Y)

Using a ball hone will only follow the in's and outs of the cylinder. You need to use a straight stone hone to make the cylinder round. You can use a ball hone only AFTER the stone hone for a finish you might want. Also NEVER put the cylinder in a vise. It will make the cylinder out of round and crush the cylinder no matter how tight or loose you clamp it.    Dave Rhoads

I recently went to look at a milling machine owned by a guy that does motorcycle cylinder & head work for a lot of motorcycle and atv shops here in southern Oregon. His number one job he is paid to do is re-sleeve 2 stroke and 4 stroke iron cylinders and hone them to size. He uses a US made Lisle 15000 Cylinder Hone with a 1/2" hand drill spinning around 500 rpm with lots of kerosene as lubricant. The cylinders he showed me looked awesome and he claimed they are very straight and round for the price of the hone. I'm probably going to buy one for myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-LI15000-Engine-Cylinder-Hone/dp/B000GKIE4S

Stone hone, not a ball hone to get them straight.  The only way to make them correct. 

Yes, Mark at Berg's works the hone, and does a very good at it, for years.

Ted

I've got a rigid Sunnen hand hone. The standard stones take a long time to take any material out at all. Would diamond stones do the job? Or are those even available for a had hone?

By the way, nicely done this weekend at Sac!