7.3 IdI honing cylinders

Booyah45828

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The flex hone needs a lubricant while you're using it. I usually have a coffee can of kerosene that I'll dunk the hone in. Some use wd40, but a gallon of kerosene is cheaper and works just as good.

Cleaning the cylinder after the hone is important. I use a scotch brite pad and hot soapy water, then soapy water with blue scott towels, and then a final rinse with brake cleaner. Wipe it down with atf and a blue scott towel to keep it from rusting. The scott towels have minimal lint production compared to other options. I know some use old cotton t-shirts or chamois which will work just as well.

When installing bearings, make sure that the surface between the bearing and bearing bore is clean and dry. I use motor oil to lube between the bearing and crank. Some people use grease, especially if it will be stored for a while after assembly. I like motor oil because I check crank turning torque during assembly, and using grease can make it almost impossible to do that.

You can use the gapless rings, but if this is only a temporary engine, standard rings will be fine. Just check the end gap on them before installation.
 

IDIBRONCO

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and using grease can make it almost impossible to do that.
Boy are you ever right on this one. During my recent overhaul, I used Lubriplate to lube the bearings. I accidentally got too much on one of the rod bearings. i couldn't turn the engine over until I loosened the rod caps up until I found the culprit. I torqued the rest back down to spec and left that one finger tight. I rotated the engine over 5 or 6 complete revolutions. I torqued it part way down and turned the engine over several revolutions again. Then I finally could torque the cap to spec and turn the engine over. Lesson learned.
 

Randy Bush

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Personally I would never use the white Lubriplate lube/grease. Growing up working in my dads machine shop we built a lot of engines, my dad was very adamant about not using the grease. Reason- if by some chance you happen to get any grit in it you don't see it while spreading it on , where as with a oil assembly lube you wipe the bearing clean , put the lube on while never touching it. You can not believe how many crankshaft can back in for him to regrind because a customer used grease assembling. Also always use a light oil to wipe the cylinder clean, just like you do in cleaning a gun, oil and wipe until rag comes clean.
 

Va_Mike

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So I have made no progress on this (stupid work getting in the way)

A friend of mine looked at the block the other day and said it looked fine for its age. the cylinders are shinny and I don't see any visible to the naked eye crosshatch. He said to leave it and run it. or rub the cylinders with fine gray scotch bright with some wd40 he said I could leave the pistons in place and that.

Does this sound right? If I was to rub the cylinders with gray scotch bright would the rings still work properly?

This just kinda goes against what I have been told in the past, But I trust this friends engine knowledge on most things because he does build his own stuff all the time and have worked on my gas vehicles. But he doesn't have any diesels.

Let me know what yall think.
 

cozinsky

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If you're not pulling the pistons out I'd leave it alone and run it. The old rings are already seated so there's no point in scuffing the cylinder walls. But, if you're removing the pistons and replacing the rings with new ones they'll never seat properly on a glazed cylinder wall so you'd have to hone them then.
 

Va_Mike

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I had decent compression before pulling the engine from the donor truck and the engine ran great. I think I am going to just leave it alone and put it back together and run it. I am rebuilding the engine I am pulling from my truck and this donor engine is just to get the truck on the road again and I will put the real work in the other engine.
 

IDIBRONCO

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I had decent compression before pulling the engine from the donor truck and the engine ran great. I think I am going to just leave it alone and put it back together and run it. I am rebuilding the engine I am pulling from my truck and this donor engine is just to get the truck on the road again and I will put the real work in the other engine.
I think you're on the right track. I'd do the same thing.
 

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