250-500cc WR 300 Honing

Hi
The rings leg go on my 300 and the piston was rattling in the bore. I just putted back to the car. Bike was perfect before this.
I pulled the head off and there is some marks on the back end of the piston. On the bore you can see some wear but cannot feel anything. I have s new vertex piston and rings to put In.
My question is will a slight hone damage the nickel plate on the bore? I'm happy with what I need to do just unsure about the nickel coating.
Cheers peter.

You can't really hone a plated cylinder, the plating is too thin.

I'd try scrubbing it with a green scotch brite pad and soap and water. They are cheap and it won't hurt the plating.

i hear you scrub off the galled aluminium with muriatic acid butt Jeff Slavens says NO HONE OF ANY KIND EVER............

But some pray to a different god.

the plating is pretty hard, it's difficult to "hone" if at all at home. if there is material stuck to the bore send it out and have it profesionally inspected and done, esp if you are not familiar with this process. if there is staining and carbon tracking (black lines) and nothing is serious in that regard you may be able to take a ball hone dunked in oil and deglaze the bore. 3-4 passes at slow speed with a drill, that's it. then, wash the bore in hot soap and water, DO NOT use solvent etc....you can use paint thinner to reduce the oil, then, hot water and dish soap.

Thanks for the info guys. I think I might go the scotch brite idea. There is only a couple of marks and if you cant feel them I think just a little rub down will get them out.
Cheers

ok- but if you use that pad make darn sure you strip the jug down FIRST and wash that thing in hot water and dish soap (i've done mine in the dishwasher when i was lazy but i dont recomend that if yer married!!!) and rinse in clean hot soapy water then clean hot water then finger some oil on the bore. go slow, be nice, criss-cross up n down and check often. you can do damage with them pads believe it or not. never use them on alluminum mating surfaces! ever! cuz this can happen! then this!

I did a bunch of reading when i re ringed my bike. I didn't have a scotch brite but 320 wet sand if fine as well just need a few passes. They say it's very hard to have any effect on the nikasil. Just deglaze.

The only hone I'd try would be a wiseco brush hone. I believe Eric gorr recommended that.

i got a finger type hone, an swear i get the same finish with it as ,y mates professionally honed head, 3-4 passes and lovely criss cross, nikasil is dam hard, i used hone on molychromium sleeve tho and thats effing hard too, i would shy away from localised rubbing down of any kind.
your bore your call at endo of the day its easy for us to say get the wet n dry on it when its not our £200 head on the line.

phone a pro an go from there

I'm with Juicy here, l have two flex hone cylinder brushes for the 360 and now 250, every top end that l do l run the flex hone through just to give the bore a better and even finish than you can do by hand - plus it's dead easy.

The bore is honed from new so they can be honed but with a diamond hone.
Best let someone experienced do it for you unless your prepared to have a go and suffer the consequences if you fail.

Thanks for the info guys.
I bought a 3 prong boring tool and gave it a light hone. Bike runs perfect.

I always use muriatic acid to remove the aluminium. After that i take 600 paper and just slightly polish the surface. no problems. As long as it isn't any deep marks at the top of the bore it doesn't matter so much. There is no compressionn there anyway. I never noticed any difference before or after this fix.

A regular stone hone won't do much if anything to the harder plating. A diamond hone will but I don't recommend trying to get a crosshatch back into the cylinder. All you should be after is cleaning the cylinder, if it is worn or scuffed beyond what is usable then it's time to re-plate.

Keep in mind that the cylinder expands in an irregular shape than what you measure when it's cold. For example the thin port bridges get hotter and expand more than areas directly adjacent to water jackets. That is one reason that they wear more and after some time will have one or two thousands wear when measured cold. When hot these thin areas will expand back and the cylinder will be closer to round.

a diamond hone is the only hone 2 use.contact the bore recoating company in melbourne area.very helpful.sorry i cant find name of company