Honing A Liner From 1600 8V

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I think a bit of qualification is needed here.

 

Sinbad, in case you don't know, Sandy builds race engines with an impressive track record. For his applications absolute power and longevity is king, hence his comments are justified.

 

However if it is just a case of stopping an engine smoking by fitting new rings, you will no doubt "get away" with honing the liners loose.

[Sinbad 16]

I think a bit of qualification is needed here.

 

Sinbad, in case you don't know, Sandy builds race engines with an impressive track record. For his applications absolute power and longevity is king, hence his comments are justified.

 

However if it is just a case of stopping an engine smoking by fitting new rings, you will no doubt "get away" with honing the liners loose.

I kind of guessed that but thanks for clarifying that for me.

The point i was trying to raise was that he said "new liners arent teriribly expensive" and that option was a better alternative to an engine shop doing them for you or having a go yourself,which Anthony has done in the past he says with no issues.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Personally I don't think £200 for a set of 4 liners is terribly expensive for what they are, costs for things are a personal opinion.

 

For the guy wanting a race engine to make max power, £200 isn't terribly expensive either. It is undoubtedly a better solution, but as with everything, no one has an unlimited supply of cash so you have to make your own judgement on the matter.

 

As I said above, if it is just to make do, then hone them yourself, or have a machine shop do it. But it cannot be argued that this is superior to either new liners, or having the old ones honed under a torque plate, for the reasons outlined by Sandy in his earlier post.

I also have to say that your tone in your posts is a little off, fair enough you do not have to agree with other users, but it is a bit off to say they are spouting rubbish when in actual fact their post contains very valid information gained from lots of experience. Sandy is one of the good guys who has helped a lot of folk on here, I for one will hold up my hand and say I have learned things from reading his postings.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Tom Fenton

[Sinbad 16]

Personally I don't think £200 for a set of 4 liners is terribly expensive for what they are, costs for things are a personal opinion.

 

For the guy wanting a race engine to make max power, £200 isn't terribly expensive either. It is undoubtedly a better solution, but as with everything, no one has an unlimited supply of cash so you have to make your own judgement on the matter.

 

As I said above, if it is just to make do, then hone them yourself, or have a machine shop do it. But it cannot be argued that this is superior to either new liners, or having the old ones honed under a torque plate, for the reasons outlined by Sandy in his earlier post.

I also have to say that your tone in your posts is a little off, fair enough you do not have to agree with other users, but it is a bit off to say they are spouting rubbish when in actual fact their post contains very valid information gained from lots of experience. Sandy is one of the good guys who has helped a lot of folk on here, I for one will hold up my hand and say I have learned things from reading his postings.

I apoligise if the posts came across like that.The only "dribble" i mentioned was that of "over £200 isnt terribly expensive" Over £200 is alot of money imo.Maybe on a race engine it isnt,but this is far from that i can assure you!-Its just a standard car.

I have taken on board all suggestions and advice and appreciate people taking the time to respond to my thread,to fire down people or argue the toss was not the intention so again i apologise if thats how i seem.

Perhaps if i had explained better what the engine was and is going to be used for,maybe spending hundreds on new liners would not be needed.

[Anthony 1,003]

It's worth noting that this might be somewhat academic anyway, as many (most?) original liners are worn now anyway.

 

I have done what you're talking about and honed liners loose, as mentioned earlier in the thread, and it's worked fine and there's been no obvious ills - compression was good, no blow-by and used no oil. Sandy gives the reasons (that I wasn't aware of at the time) why that's not ideal, so it's up to you to make your own mind up where you want to draw the line between doing something "properly" and saving money.

 

Probably worth asking your local engine builders / machinists if they can hone them properly, but otherwise, I'm sure honing them loose will be "fine" like it has been for me in the past and for others that I know of that have done that - if nothing else, it will highlight clearly any notable wear (as a darker area) which might well mean that the liners are unserviceable anyway.

 

Alternatively, if it's a 1.6 GTi, the engines are cheap enough that it's possibly worth just getting a known good unit and swapping it out - certainly that will likely work out cheaper than the costs of all the parts that you'll need to replace the rings and reassemble the engine, and that's before considering further complications if you stumble across anything else untoward like corroded liner seats.

[Sinbad 16]

Ive had 3 engines,cracked them open and ALL have been goosed in one way or another! Seems its hard to find a good one.

I have enough parts however to make a good one out of the 3,my liner seats are all good on the block im using btw.

Anyway,i have 12 liners-they look ok,feel ok and are standard size.

I have new bearings,rings and gaskets.My crank has been inspected and measured,then polished at the engine shop.Apart from the honing its good to go really.

I wont have a massive power little 1600 engine,just would be happy with standard power.

Thanks again for all the replies.

[omega 82]

sinbad

read through all of this and if i was you i would

a ask a engine shop on a price to do the job

b as you have the tool and a spare liner or two why not clamp it in the block and have a go if you mess up its not the end of the world.the proplem might be that you do the job and dont know you have messed up as you havnt got the skills/equipment to mesure it then you rebuild it with lots of tiime and money only to find its no good.

 

i also agree with you that 200 pounds is a lot of money to find when things are tight.

 

good luck and let us know what you do and how it all works out.

Edited January 10, 2012 by omega

[matyasg 0]

I think the main concern over the liners is cost.

How much are they as ive seen them for over £200

Not for me in this case! However i don't want to buy a set right now, but if the engine renew is come up again it's worth that money.

It's getting hard to get used but good liners/pistons for these engines, lot of them has scratches and/or oval shape far beyond the factory design.

Sorry for hijacking though.

[matyasg 0]

Drop a message to Miles here on the forum. I have just bought from him 4 new KS liners forn my XU9JA.

Thanks for the info.

[Sinbad 16]

Sorry for hijacking though.

No problem,if this thread can help us all then its fine for anyone to ask questions

One thing that has got me wondering,after sandy saying you can squeeze them and they move,what happens when they are over bored?? this must be even weaker in that case?? Would you have to apply a greater or lesser pressure on a deck plate when honing?? Interesting.......