Posted By: Commando1
Ridge Reamers - 01/22/13 03:22 PM
I know. I know. You're supposed to use a ridge reamer. I chanced it in the past and have been lucky. Don't want to push my luck any more.
Anybody have a more economical alternative. Oldtimers always say to me "I useta to do it with an old butter knife and a...." or some such nonsense like that.
Um, no. Sorry. Not me...
Posted By: Challenger 1
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/22/13 03:23 PM
Use a flap wheel in a die grinder??
Posted By: JohnRR
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/22/13 03:46 PM
You can do more harm than good if you don't know what you are doing .
Posted By: RapidRobert
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/22/13 03:47 PM
You should be able to rent one for cheap at one of your parts houses & ask them if they will but new blades in it before you walk out the door. Put a box end wrench on the center nut & pull the cutters toward you rather than pushing the blades into the cyl wall which means you need to change positions OFTEN as you go around the bore. Stop & check your work OFTEN, use WD40 & it will not cut evenly around the bore so stop when any section has ALMOST all of the ridge down flush, Just use your own judgement/patience/be conservative
Posted By: MLR426
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/22/13 04:23 PM
Do not use a ridge reamer, they can ruin a block. You cannot get the reamer square in the bore of a slopply bore, leave it alone or as said use a flap wheel on a die grinder if you are having issues removing pistons.
MLR426
It's a good idea to remove the ridge before knocking the pistons from the cylinders. If you don't you can damage the ring lands in your pistons. Plus, if you leave the ridge there and install new rings, the new rings could impact the ridge when it starts, damaging the ring lands or even breaking the new rings. One thing to make sure when using a ridge reamer is to stop at the top as soon as the old ridge is gone. If you keep going you will taper the top of the cylinder and cause a head gasket leak. Make sure you follow the directions for your reamer and they'll work as intended.
Posted By: dogdays
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/22/13 11:36 PM
IF you have to ask, get a pro to do it. There are just too many ways to screw up a block with a ridge reamer.
R.
Posted By: Challenger 1
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/23/13 12:59 AM
Owned it for 25 years, used it on maybe 5 motors.
Used it one time to get the pistons out of a slant 6, paid for itself that day.
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/23/13 02:26 AM
Ridge Reamer should be called "block screwing up machine" I have never ever seen a ring broke from "running into the ridge" just hone the thing, add some cheap rings and away you go--never a problem--do not use a ridge reamer--they are a stone age tool--just get a shop to hone the block , Wash the heck out of it and go--it will be just fine. Run the reamer, Bell out the top of the bore and you have a junker until you bore it and then many can't be saved from the massive attack done by the well meaning back yard builder ( I admire All back yard builders and have great respect for their efforts, as they usually do just fine) as long as they do not borrow a ridge reamer
I just fixed a 360 engine that had three pistons with the top rings of each broken because he didn't remove the ridge, did a quick hone job and threw it together. The aftermarket 12.5 pistons he used had a higher ring height and on each stroke those top rings were over-riding the ridge causing them to break. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It can and does happen.
Posted By: 451Mopar
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/23/13 05:02 AM
Any ridge that too deep to cleanup with a hone job, likely needs an overbore anyhow
Posted By: 6PakBee
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/23/13 01:27 PM
I have the same ridge reamer that Challenger 1 has. On a re-ring job, I've always used it. In my cases typically I am re-using the pistons so the upper ring position is the same. I'll cut until I just reach the end of the ridge, then stop. Where I have seen people get into trouble is they start cutting the ridge out, get in a hurry, don't watch where they are going, and end up cutting into the upper ring travel area. Then you are screwed. As to 'belling' the bore with a ridge reamer, IMHO as long as it's above the top ring travel area and you didn't get carried away (looks like a funnel), who cares?
Now something that's other than a simple re-ring, well that's another matter entirely.
Posted By: Commando1
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/23/13 02:48 PM
I, ummm... appreciate the responses, guys. Thanks.
Posted By: buildanother
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/23/13 03:27 PM
Wow, the big problem I've seen in all these responses, is the use of pistons with higher ring location than the pistons that came out. That can't fly at all. that case NEEDED a bore job.
Here's a pic of the one I've used since 1977. I actually bought it from JC Whitney, mail order. It's a KH 209 model.
Posted By: 360view
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/24/13 08:51 PM
Step by step,
how would be the best way
to use a rotary tool
to remove a ridge,
and what would be the ideal
flap or grinding wheel
to use in the tool?
Should one try to totally remove the ridge,
or just remove emough material to allow the piston rings to compress and pass over a reduced ridge?
Should one strive to keep
the centerline of the rotary tool parallel to the line of the bore, or should the rotary tool be held at an angle
to grind the original ridge
into a shallow ramp shape?
Since saving the block from damage
that forces an overbore is much desired,
At what level of material removal
should one stop for safety's sake?
Perhaps a shim of a few thousandths thickness
could be held just below the ridge
to keep the rotary tool wheel from accidently
cutting too deep
or too far down?
Posted By: 6PakBee
Re: Ridge Reamers - 01/26/13 04:13 AM
I'd be scared to try to remove a ridge with a rotary stone/bit/abrasive wheel, whatever. To maintain the tolerance you need for eight bores? Without botching one up? I'd go back to the reamer.
The mistake I see people make with a ridge reamer is they turn it with a ratchet or a breaker bar. This imposes a side load on the tool and just makes it harder to maintain alignment with the bore. I get above the block (use a small step stool) and use a T-handle for the reamer so everything stays aligned. Just my
Posted By: 360view
Re: Ridge Reamers - 02/01/13 04:00 PM
Backing up to Basics
The purpose of a ridge reamer is to
Allow the old piston rings
To avoid the ridge obstruction
And let the pistons be removed.
If the rings could be cut opposite the gap
in some easy way
they would collapse
and allow the piston to be removed
despite the ridge.
Anyway to do this simply?
One thought is that if the old piston could be pressed against the bore wall at the gap,
then the opposite side of the old ring could be drilled with a bit whose diameter would be just slightly larger than the old ring.
Oil ring would be toughest to do.
I also wonder what would happen if
the block were hot
and a round chunk of dry ice
was placed on the crown of the piston
to chill it and the rings?
The ridge reamer tool is the only way to do it, other than taking the block to the machine shop. The questions you have asked and if your block needs work done to it you had better have someone else do it. JMO