Hi there I need to re-ring my 020 383 motor, so it’s 4.27” bore now and need to know what size and grit ball hone to buy and what lube to use while doing it

Thank you

I think the grit will depend on what type of rings you will be using. Some will require a finer finish than others.

You’re right, I finally found a good site with info. Cast rings 120 grit and buy the hone for the size of cylinder you have. If you have a 4” cyl buy a 4” hone, the hone is compensated for size and will actually be a 5” etc. I think they said 240grit moly rings.
I think I’ll buy the lube too rather than using just engine oil..

Thanks for your reply.

I would suggest file fit plasma moly rings & dingleberry hone with a 320 grit flexhone. Follow their instructions on drill speed/# of strokes/duration/feed rate (up/down angle) & they even say on their site that any light oil is OK. Sure they'd like you to purchase their oil but WD40 works fine. If it is a rering be sure to cut the ring ridge which takes alot of care when useing the ridge reamer. Pull the cutters toward you with a 5/8 box wrench & change positions many times around the block for good leverage & frequent checking as to not cut past past the ridge cuz it dont cut dead even all around the circumference

Thanks!

I think I’m going to stick with cast rings, I think moly rings need a perfectly squar cylinder and are harder to seat. I have a few bore that are 1/w thou difference here and there. I’m lucky as there is Zero ridge on the block!

First off, I've never seen an engine with any kind of run time not have a ridge. May be small, but it's there. As to cast vs moly, the only thing I would put cast in is a lawnmower. I've re-rung engines with up to 0.009" taper with moly and had no problems. But this is just my , it's not my engine.

You would think normally there would be a slight ridge even if you can’t see or feel it but I think this engine got hot maybe or something to glaze the cylinders and give it a premature removal from the car in favour of something either bigger or new. I mic’d It and there’s no ridge. The cam that came out of this engine was kinda lame too so maybe the motor was yanked as the owner felt it just didn’t have much power. Who knows.

The bearings and crank all looked great, I’m going to re-use them as is.

I was planning on using cast rings as they seat easy, they are very common and used a lot, I’ve had moly rings in other motors too and was just told at the time that they really need to be ‘seated well’ and to do that you should keep the rpm’s varied for the first while. Any recommends on breaking in moly rings if I go that route? Is there a potential that they don’t seat or get broken in at all.

Most my cylinders are pretty square, reflecting the low wear. There is small variances between .003-.006 in each from top to bottom not necessarily reflecting taper but at random spots along the travel of the cylinder.

Any input for an inexperienced engine builder (me) is appreciated.

Do you mean .003-.006” or .0003-.0006”?

.003 - .006” isn’t small checking at random spots.

You might want to check and see if there is a local auto supply nearby you can borrow their pressure hone.

A dingleberry hone won’t make that kind of wear apparant, the pressure hone will.
A quick few strokes with it will tell you real quick if the bore is round, tapered or has valleys.

Engines need good ring seal to make power and avoid crop dusting.

Use 50/50 trans fluid and mineral spirits as your honing lube. Keeps the stones clean and lubricated, prevents glazing the bore.

Wash it with liquid clothes detergent, dry it then lube it with a spray bottle using clean 50/50 trans fluid luid and mineral spirits to prevent flash rusting.

Sorry, yes. 10 thousandths. .0003-.0006

moly moly moly !

Joe Pesci: "What's a grit?"