What's the real deal with Nikasil

[wvspeedfreak]

I know this has been discussed before but I haven't ever been able to get a solid answer.If you are just replacing a piston and rings what needs to be done to the cylinder wall to prep the rings for seating?I have heard to hone and I have heard not to hone.What has worked for you guys??

[Pappy]

from what i am told, do not hone it. if it has to be honed or bored it must be re nikasiled.

[AtvMxRider]

Do NOT hone it just clean it up real good and as long as there are no deep scratches you are good to go

[wvspeedfreak]

Thanks guys.

[AtvMxRider]

anytime buddy, You missed a good race saturday Jason at Actiontown. My son tried another double and busted his ***. He cleared the double but came off the side of the quad when he landed:eek2:

[wvspeedfreak]

Originally posted by AtvMxRider
anytime buddy, You missed a good race saturday Jason at Actiontown. My son tried another double and busted his ***. He cleared the double but came off the side of the quad when he landed:eek2:

Yeah,I really wanted to go.The Breezewood spring opener was also this weekend and I had to miss it too:(

[nakomis0]

You hone nikasil with a ball hone, very lightly with alot of oil.

We did it a few yrs back with a kawi Tacate.

I think you can also do it with a standard hone with finer grit to it. Which is what we were about to do but a buddy had a ball hone

[IrideMHSC]

I have a nikasil cylinder in my z-470 and we didnt even hone it at all alot of people said honeing wouldnt help cuz that nikasil is some tough stuff... i love it it makes putting in a new piston so much easier

[AtvMxRider]

Originally posted by nakomis0
You hone nikasil with a ball hone, very lightly with alot of oil.

We did it a few yrs back with a kawi Tacate.

I think you can also do it with a standard hone with finer grit to it. Which is what we were about to do but a buddy had a ball hone

You are not supposed to hone it.

[Z-Racer-5c]

Not suposed to hone at all. I will always recomend a new sleeve without it. It is great as long as you take care of the oil. Lots of people don't change oil and it will kill the coating. Coating works well. Add z-Max treatment to gas every 3 tanks, will help a bunch. I have 15 races on my 453 and I add to every 3 tanks of 110 sunoco. Just my opinion.

[greg_gorrell]

**** i honed my 400ex cylinder when i rebuilt, no problems there. and i bored out a friends quadrunner and never renikasiled. i havent had any problems, whats up with that?

[wheeltrax]

The 400ex cyl isnt coated. I hate nikasil plated cylinders, only cause it is more expensive to fix then a regular non plated. My sled blew up this winter and killed the coating. It was almost 200 bucks to weld and recoat. Where as its only like 50 bucks to bore a cylinder.

[nakomis0]

Your not suppose to hone it aye? Well I'm here to tell ya you can hone it with a ball hone 3-4 times.

A ball hone is 'almost' a polish anyways.

[greg_gorrell]

i use a stone hone

[cals400ex]

a ball hone is not recommended. it is recommended that you do hone it out though........just use a little better equipment.

[Houser Cannondale]

You should not hone a nikasil cylinder with a conventional hone, it can damage the plating. It simply needs to be de-glazed, so that the new rings can seat as good as possible. A ball hone, is not actually a hone, it does not remove material if used properly. It only de-glazes the surface. :)