Bon Ami -"Ain't Scratched Yet" for rings

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X-file said:
I think this is worth a read. It shows the importance of getting rings bedded as soon as possible.http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
I worked with a man who'd been in the RAF in WW2.He said they always lapped rings on RR Merlin engines during a rebuild, before they put them back into Spitfires.

I was about to say start the new engine up and go out and beat the hell out of it. That link proves me right.

Now here is something interesting. Modern technology. If you hone the bore, you wear it out quicker. Our method is re-ringing or new pistons and ring, fit them straight into the used bores with some oil in the ring grooves [ without honing or actually deglazing the bores ]. Go out and thrash it. That's what I do but don't tell my customers [ I retired 14 years ago. no worries ]. I never have a problem with smoking and my bikes go like shit.

The old technology was to deglaze bores. You don't hone a used bore unless you want to oversize it and fit oversize pistons. Deglazing simply takes the shine of where the stone touches the bore.[ Honing takes too much off and is normally done after re-boring. The re-boring process usually leave the cylinder ever so slightly tighter, so that honing brings it to the correct size. At least that is what used to be done in the 60"- 90"s]
We don't need to do that anymore when re-ringing. Believe it or not.
 
I've studied that fella break in method over a decade ago - when he went into more detail on the heat cycle part which back then was concerned with melting the stone hone texture ridges to point of galling more than sealing - not over heating whole engine d/t lack of coolant flow. Back then he said just giver hi throttle rpm for a min then cool bores then 2 min then another min if still smoking - then head on on road or water to put the max pressure loads to finish up. I learned the hard way about about breaking the glaze on cast iron bores on my 18 hp Kohler boxer mower that was smoking and blowing too much back into case so had bores lightly touched up then new ring but work the bore oval shaped in less than one season till lost power to would not start and compression was 0 on one and half expected on the other. I talked to the local small engine shops and all said they quit touching the bores a couple decades d/t this and only try new rings leaving bore alone and if than didn't do it then get new cylinders. To avoid this I've had Kohler re-bored 20 over and Bore Tech carbide'd with a dusting of Bon Ami on ring lands and dry bore surface. Ugh I broke a top ring on 1st attempt using ring compressor method then found out that was a no no on this type engine so next one fitted piston in bore then slid in pin in rod mehtod worked a treat. Waiting for new ring set now but grass is past rib height and falling over on its own like the farmers said if I wait long enough. This horizontal shaft Kohler has valve box on top the bore and a drain hole onto bore so will flush ' a lot' of the Bon Ami into the oil and will let it polish up for a few min on/off rev ups with mower deck spinning load then change oil & filter and start heavy mowing, most at night when cooler. I've left out head gasket this time to up CR to 7-ish and make the Singh Grooves work better and happy the valves clear fine. In past I could not bog down engine> belts would slip and tires dig holes but keep on running.
 
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