I totally understand what a machinist does, and I know what a engine builder does too. I also know that my engines will be bored and honed to the piston weather it's my 427 with forged slugs or my ole 1964 allis chalmers lawn mower with a 10 horse Briggs and Stratton because I understand that tolerances are for inspecting parts, and exact machining is to make them actually fit so it won't be too tight and scrub the cylinder and put trash in the oil or too lose and shorten the life expectancy of it. Again, it's your engine, do it your way, but I know I am correct on the bore issue, as are most of the machine shops who won't bore a block without Pistons. If the piston is on the high side of tolerance, and the cylinder is on the low side, both machinists done their job acceptably, but the end result will be wrong and visa versa. The sizing is included in the price, why wouldn't you let them do it? Just thinking out loud here. No hard feelings or disrespect intended, just how I feel on this one. It really doesn't matter how long or how many rpm it's going to run, if I am rebuilding it, I want it as exactly right as I can get it. There are 8 single cylinder engines working in unison, it's only as good as its weakest one. I want them all right.
Hey bucket an, I am not trying to be right for any other reason but to help anyone who hasn't experienced this stuff. I made tons of screw ups learning this stuff, He'll, I still do, but I try to smooth out the learning curve if I can, lol... The thing here is this,
Sorry, I had a glitch, to finish my previous post, most machine shops won't finish hone a block without having the Pistons on hand due to variations in manufacturing, the material used, and what type rings are used. There is a different finish for moly or cast, etc... The shops I deal with include the price of the hone in the bore price, maybe your shop thought you wanted to do your own honing, I don't know, but you need to make sure it is done to have the best result for your engine. Jmo. If you have to take it back in to them, no biggie. There is no shame in not knowing stuff, only not doing what you know you should do, lol...
If something I said helped, great, glad to do it...if not, sorry to wast the bandwidth, just killin time anyways, right...lolFletcherson, your not the first person I've heard this from, your just the first person I've listened to. It makes sense that everything works better together if it's made to fit. I've been going on machinist experience. You are talking about engine building experience, of which I have very little. As a machinist I was a perfectionist. If I varied .001 from the mean I adjusted to the mean and continued the process as long as my part was in tolerance at .001 off the mean. Normal tolerance being +/- .005. Automotive parts were usually +/- .003. Some as tight as +/- .001. I always thought the rings were placed on the piston to fill the gap in tolerance. Able to fill the gap from the low on the piston to the high on the bore. Anyway I'm not mad, I just feel kind of stupid for spending so much money and not knowing what I'm doing. I sure hope it works out. Maybe they will all be too tight and a trip back to the machine shop will fix it with the hone. He has a nice setup. I will be paying special attention to piston fit, thanks to you, so I won't do any damage. If the bore is too big I guess I'll just get a real loud stereo so nobody can hear the pistons slapping around in there.
Hey, look at it this way, you know what to look for, so now you can make whatever adjustments are needed... Or tell us all what asses we are cause it's ok, lol. Luck is better than skill sometimes anyways, it just doesn't usually work out that way for me. Just answer this question to yourself for your own benefit, did you get cast or moly rings? If they are moly, they require a much finer grit hone than cast. I made that mistake once because I did t know until after the fact. The moly rings wear and won't seal right if not correctly honed.
