cylinder honing

Before honing indescriminately, measure the piston to cylinder clearance and see how much you have to go before it's out of spec.

Once you know how much you have to work with, then you can safely hone it.
 
There are honing brushes you can purchase for drill attachment. Personally, I recommend just hitting up a local machine/engine shop and having them do it. It usually doesn't cost much of anything for them to do as it's fairly quick and simple. I agree you should check the specs of the cylinder with a mic though because if you have wear on it and hone it some more to being out of spec, you might have issues with the rings, compression, a lot of things.
 
Dont do it yourself... let a shop do it.
a proper cross hatch angle is very important to reliable engine life and proper lubrication. Also port chamfer size and angle.

Most first timer hone jobs I have seen are completely incorrect and will cause premature engine wear or major damage
 
i see piston slap and busted skirt in your immediate future if you just hone it yourself without knowing what your doing, with the proper tools, not $25 honing balls from ebay
 
it really depends on what you consider VERY small scratches? piston cylinder clearance is very important. if your lookin to clean it up and throw new rings in it i would say your out of spec. already. have i done this? YES, but i knew that it was just to get the threw the season and its really a roll of the dice, it could result in catastrophic engine failure and end up being very expensive
 
Since I didn't mention it earlier. What are these "scratches" you are speaking off? The rings will normally leave vertical lines where they seat into the cylinder. If it's new, it's just the cross hatching. Cylinder's sleeves aren't made to be polished.....even though an initial thought process would think so. Can you take a pic of it?
 
they look like light vertical scratches not bad but i want to see the cross hatching as if it was new i have a cylinder thats pretty bad that i was going to practice on like just do a little and measure and keep doing till its looking good and get it to where i can get a piston that will fit but how much does it usually cost at a shop
 
yeah well like i said i have a cylinder thats pretty beat up that i will try out first so i will take it from there but at the same time i will call around maybe ill check out ken oconnor also
 
On a 2 stroke you should have a 35 degree cross hatch, and 45 for 4 stroke
impropper cross hatch will greatly affect the oil migration and speed as well as oil consumption
if the cross hatch is to shallow of an angle it will reduce oil migration and cause engines to LOAD up and use more oil (for 4 strokes)
To steep of an angle and the oil will migrate down the cylinder thinning the oil film and causing premature engine wear

I use a 240 3 stone hone in a press on its slowest speed
however also really important is the lubrication you use during honing as well as pressure applied, grit of stone and maintaining the perfect angle. After you must clean up any sharp port chamfers so you have a even 1mm chamfer