[Vwdiesel] Honing advice needed!

[Shawn Wright]

On 30 Mar 2005 at 23:06, LBaird119 at aol.com <LBaird119 at aol.com> wrote:

>   Nice looking hone job!  I usually don't see cylinders straight enough 
> for that purdy of a job!  It's going to take a bit of honing to get the 
> scoring all out. :-(  They're supposed to use excess oil if you have 
> scoring but then if you end up with a big bore (wear limit or close) 
> then it'll use oil too.  I'd personally be inclined that if you don't really 
> catch a fingernail on them, to call it good-e-nuff.  Just be sure it's at 
> least as coarse as the slidey thing on a 3 1/2" floppy.  

Thanks! The cylinders were pretty good, but I was surprised how the scores really 
jumped out after honing. The top ridges also seem more noticeable, so now I'm 
wondering if I need to do something about them. You can just catch a nail on them, 
and interestingly, the ridge is much deeper on one side of the cylinder - almost 
nothing on the other. I guess this is the piston rocking slightly? I might try a bit more 
honing, then measure the bores again to confirm my earlier measurements. They 
were just at the limit in a couple places, but mostly under.

>   I usually go nearly as slow as a VS drill will do and up and down 
> about as fast as I reasonably can. You want your intersect angle to 
> be steeper as I understand.

The original appears to be about 30 deg from horizontal, but I've heard that 45 may 
be better. The flexhone package says 45 I think. 

Next I need to decide if I will pay the $50 to have it tanked - I need to get the int shaft 
bearings pressed anyway, so I might as well I guess. Hagar mentioned not using a 
corrosive dip, so I'll have to ask about this also. And I need to get the flywheel turned 
- the clutch was rusted to it, so it looks a bit rough. 

I spent the rest of tonight pulling apart the spare Vanagon Diesel engine I got with my 
5 speed stuff - turns out it is a CK block with 1.00 over Brazilian pistons. From the 
looks of the sloppy use of RTV everywhere, an amateur job. But the bores look good, 
and the pistons, bearings, and rings look very good also, pistons look almost new. I 
suspect either the HG went, or the TB went soon after rebuild. #1 and #4 pistons 
have pretty good valve impressions, so the valves and head may be toast - the head 
also has some deep scratches on the face from rough handling. Good to practice on 
anyway, and might even go in my Jetta one day...

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D 
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
'82 Diesel Westy