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When building a new engine, much attention is paid to enhance piston ring seal, especially during the break-in process. This effort begins by making sure the cylinder walls are as clean as possible before assembly. The common approach is to wash the block with hot soapy water using washing machine soap to remove all the grease and oil.
This is usually where most backyard builders assume the cylinder walls are clean. Through years of building engines and discussing this process with professional race engine builders, we’ve learned that very fine honing grit tends to find its way deep into the crosshatch on the cylinder walls and it takes special effort to remove this grime. We’ve tried dozens of cleaners, but always return to a recommendation by a drag race engine builder friend who suggested using Marvel Mystery Oil.
Our process is to place a small amount of Mystery Oil on a clean, white paper towel and wipe two cylinders. On the first pass this will turn the white paper dark with grit. We’ve found it often requires between three and sometimes as many as five separate passes through each cylinder to remove the honing grit. You will achieve a clean cylinder bore when the white paper towel remains red from the Marvel oil with no dark coloration.
We’ll admit this approach takes time, perhaps as much as 30 minutes or longer to achieve clean cylinder walls, but it’s the best way we’ve found to omit the grit.
The post Tech 101: Removing Honing Grit From Your Cylinders appeared first on The Online Automotive Marketplace.
