[Vwdiesel] Ringjobs and break-ins -- ( honing and ring seating )

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

  I'll throw in a few notes on this subject.  ;-)
  I spent quite a bit of time talking with Total Seal about proper hone 
"scratch" for THEIR rings.  Other's may vary but I'll bet the same 
procedures would be fine on any rings we put in these.  If any of 
you have access to a profilometer then I can give you the exact 
specs.  For the rest of us the roughness of the cylinder wall should 
be just a bit more rough than the brushed aluminum "slidey plate" on 
your 3 1/2" floppy disks.  Most DIY hones will give you about that finish. 
"Dingle ball" hones are a little less desireable than a straight stone hone.  

The biggest reason to use oil when honing is to keep the stones from 
loading up.  You'll actually get a bit more coarse of a job dry or with 
water, lighter oil, etc.  You could do that as a final two or three passes 
if you like to get really anal about it.  ;-)  

  One book I have on diesels says absolutely use nothing but soap and 
water to wash out cylinders after a hone job!  It says that any oil based 
solvent will tend to push metalic particles deeper into the pores of the 
metal, water will tend to bring them out.  Don't know for sure but it really 
is easlier to use a Scotch Brite padded sponge and a little soap and a 
hose than to use Brakleen or solvent.  :)

  Total Seal wants the rings put in dry with nothing more allowed than 
a film of oil on the wall and skirt.  I tend to use a film of moly grease 
rubbed thinly on the skirts due to the tight piston to cylinder clearances 
the VW diesel uses.  Don't glop the rings in oil like in the old days.

  Break-in details I've learned:
  The old "drive it easy the first 500 miles and until x,xxx miles fairly" 
will not break in a diesel the best way!  Found that out dealing with 
Ford 6.9 diesels.  The recommendation for them was to put a 5 horse 
trailer, 11' camper or whatever heavy load on it/behind it that you can 
and take off for a non-stop 300 to 500 mile trip in the mountains if 
possible.  In other words load the heck out of it.  The dealer said all 
the trucks that brok in that way used little to no oil.  The ones broken 
in by the book (easy break in, like Dad's) most used a LOT of oil.  I 
usually idle for about 15 minutes, drive it easy for the first 5 to 20, 
keeping 
the speed varying and below 50 to 55mph.  After that I keep it below 
60 for about 50 miles and keep doing acceleration/deceleration.  I use 
a local mountain pass and a break-in as an excuse to run to Seattle 
or such.  After the 50 or so miles I keep top speed and rpm's down a 
bit but just drive it HARD!  They've all been fully broken in at 4K to 7K 
miles.  I judge it by when you quit noticing little gains in power and 
the mileage stops going up each tank.  Oil useage usually drops off 
by the second to third tank of fuel.

  My stand on deceleration comes from a worn out YZ 125.  I would be 
out riding it on a hot day and it'd lose power.  Decelerate down a couple 
hills and wow, a major return of power and not just as a result of cooling 
and until it warmed back up.   The power would stay for another half 
hour or so of riding.  Then just repeat, if necessary.
  FWIW
     Loren