New rings and hone? Or same rings without hone.

[M4rt1n]

Ok im a little unsure what i should do here.

Im rebuilding a 96 587 motor that was stored for a couple of years.

My guess is that it was used in salt water and then left without being flushed.

Ive had a major cleanup of all the internals as the cooling system was blocked.

So im wondering if i will be ok keeping the old rings and not having the cylinder honed.

The engine run fine and had 154 psi in each cylinder. The walls of the cylinder are spotless and the crosshatch is very good.

Everything i have read says to have the cylinder honed but i really dont think it needs to, but i would like another opinion.

Whats would you guys recommend?

 

[Jetskigoodies]

If everything looks good and you still see the cross hatches then you should be fine. On the other hand it never hurts to freshen up a top end. As I said before though it will be fine, with 154 in each hole you are above perfect. Perfect is 150

 

[mikidymac]

As Jetskigoodies indicated if it looks good and compression is good leave it. If you want to install new rings you should hit the cylinders with a quick hone. A ball hone works fine and you really can't mess it up.

I would suggest all new gaskets and seals just to be trouble free. I bought a used 1996 XP that fired up with fresh gas and had good compression. Probably could have run it but I like to start fresh with anything used so I pulled the engine and did an air leak test and the rotary cover had a big leak as the o-ring was old and hard. Remember these are 20+ year old skis and gaskets and seals do get old and hard. I see it as cheap peace of mind.

 

[M4rt1n]

Ok that sounds good to me.

Yea I have it completely stripped down The only.gasket.i won't be replacing is the crank case gasket as.there is no need. The crank has no oil leaked into it and everything seems good so I don't see the need to take it that far.

Next job is removing one of the cylinder sleeves to put into another jug. Should be interesting trying that.

Sorry about the.full stops, my phone is playing up.

 

[mikidymac]

If you have it down that far I would just buy a complete gasket kit for a few bucks more. It will come with all new crank and rotary valve seals and o-rings. The crankcase uses sealant not a gasket.

I would not suggest installing a used sleeve in a used cylinder. You have to heat it a lot and press it in nice and straight then it should be bored and/or honed with a torque plate to make sure it is not out of round or tapered from the heating and pressing.

Not saying you can't do it just is a lot of work. Is the cylinder damaged? Would it be easier to bore both cylinders to the next size over and have a fresh top end?

 

[M4rt1n]

Yea I was going to just get the full set. I just don't really want to be messing around with the crank if I don't need to. Plus the bolts were corroded everywhere else so I'm worried one might snap in the housing.

My problem is that I have two bolts seized into one of the cylinders. I have had an engineer try to remove.them but they are not.going anywhere.

I have read that its possible to change the sleeves with heating the hugs and freezing the sleeves. My sleeves are immaculate and it would be a shame not to use them.

 

[mikidymac]

Sounds like you have nothing to loose and a great learning experience. When you finish if you don't have the tools take it by your local machine shop to measure the bores to see if they are within spec for size, taper and out of round.

 

[M4rt1n]

Might have a go tomorrow so I will let you k ow how it goes.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Cool, an old motor that wasn't even broken in yet!

 

[eddie708]

i could be wrong but the way i understood it was that honeing a cylinder helps seat the new rings. just be sure to measure the cylinders to make sure they are still in spec

also make sure you have the right ring gap

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

i could be wrong but the way i understood it was that honeing a cylinder helps seat the new rings. just be sure to measure the cylinders to make sure they are still in spec

also make sure you have the right ring gap

You are correct, the proper bore finish is necessary for new rings to properly lap into the bore. Depending on the type of rings used, the recommended finish may vary. Here are some generic instructions:

 

[M4rt1n]

Going good so far.