Cylinder Hone

I removed the cylinder from my engine and used a brake cylinder hone
to "scuff" the cylinder to help brake in the piston rings. I've done
this on two of the Chinese chrome cylinders, and it has greatly improved the
break in period of the rings. The key factor to doing this properly is to liberally
use mineral spirits and only briefly stroke the bore with a variable speed
drill at a slow speed, just enough to de-glaze the cylinder. The stock chrome cylinder liner is too smooth and causes excessive uneven and extended brake
in time. I have over 400 miles on both engines and the cylinders have a much
better ring pattern after inspection.I've used only Amsoil Sabre full synthetic
oil from day one, at a 40:1 ratio and after about 100-150 miles I switch to a
50:1 ratio. I know that someone will start scolding me for honing a chromed
cylinder liner, but they're cheap to buy and as it turned out, it works great!
The key point is to briefly stroke the cylinder using lots of mineral spirits,
just enough to scuff it in a cross hatch pattern. That will help the piston and rings to seat in much more evenly and faster, plus it adds additional lubrication too. An easy way to slide the cylinder back onto the piston, is to use a piece of plywood under the piston to hold it level, and a hose clamp to compress the rings, and simply slide the
cylinder back on. A flat sanding tool that can be bought at a hobby store is
excellent for leveling the cylinder and cylinder head mating surfaces for a
nice fit too.

Cabinfever1977 said:

what did u paint the head with? it looks like truck bed or toolbox coating. does it still cool good?

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I used VHT black wrinkle paint. It's a little hard to find but its been around since the 70's. I used it on all of the top end and engine rebuilds that we did. In tests,
the wrinkle finish provided slightly better cooling than a highly polished aluminum
finish. So it actually helps dissipate some of the heat. The trick to getting a uniform wrinkle finish, is to heat the thoroughly cleaned cylinder to about 100-120
degrees and then spray a heavy coat just one time, and she'll turn out real even.
Plus its very durable too, and easy to touch up if needed.

Pablo said:

Actually that sounds like a seriously good idea.

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Pablo, Yeah it definitely has some nice advantages, such as hiding burn't
oil blotches or discoloring of the silver Chinese paint. Plus it enhances
the general appearance of the engine. At least in my viewpoint.
BTW were you describing the honing or the paint?