Hi,

I am about to put the cylinder back on my girlfriend's gs500.  I had it off in order to replace a base gasket oil leak.  The cylinder walls don't look glazed and I can still see the scratches generated from the hone work that was done when the top end of the bike was rebuilt 8K miles ago.  How necessary is it to re-hone the block?  I would do it, but unfortunately I don't have any hones and am on a pretty stringent budget.  Would it make that much of a difference if the bike ran fine and was not burning any oil prior to disassembly?  I know that the cross marks generated on the cylinder walls are there to retail oil, but don't know if additional honing is needed.

Thanks in advance.

i wouldnt hone or you may get into needing to go big enough to get a oversized piston and rings in it.  if you only replaced a base gasket and your putting old piston and rings back in just make sure you run it like its a fresh rebuild to insure proper seating of the rings back on the piston and into the cylinder wall.

I have read that honing is not only unnecessary, but can actually be less "healthy" for the engine than leaving it as is.

I don't know the veracity of this information, just that it's an interesting take.

http://www.snowvalley.20m.com/bikes/dnthone.htm

Thanks for the reply.  The cylinders were over-bored .020" and larger pistons were used at the last rebuilt, which was about 8K miles ago.  I have not removed the rings or the pistons.  What do I need to do to make sure that the rings are re-seated properly?

just dont hold a steady rpm. vary speed and rpms for the first tank of gas should reseat the rings in the cylinder good.

Honing and deglazing are two different things. Those flexible things you fit in a drill are a waste of time and money, they never produce good results and can do more harm than good by taking too much metal off leading to irregularities in the cylinder diameter, particularly if you have never used one before.

If think you need a rehone take it to a shop, they have machinery that will produce cuts to the correct depth at the right angle while removing the minimum amount of metal and keeping everything concentric. Anything else is a compromise.

The safe and easy way to deglaze is by scrubbing the cylinder wall using scotchbrite with plenty of hot water and detergent, it will clean the hones out without removing metal or effecting tolerances. I have done it this way many times and can confirm it achieves excellent results particularly with two-strokes.  Needless to say you must dry the parts off immediately and cover them in WD when you have finished otherwise they will flash-rust within minutes.

I will do just that.  I will scrub the cylinder walls with the scotch bright pad and plenty of hot water and detergent.  Upon drying the cylinders I will spray WD-40.  When re-installing the cylinder block, do I need to coat the cylinder with some fresh motor oil, or is the WD40 going to be sufficient?

Thanks

You should use plenty of oil when you reasseamble, pour some over the cams before you put the cover on too 

Well,

Last night my assembly operation had to come to a grinding halt.  I installed the cylinder and engine head.  When I was putting the cams in, the threads in the cylinder head for one of the cam cap bolt got stripped.  It is the cam cap that sits over the left exhaust valve, which is supposed to be forced open as the cam shaft is tightened.  I was using a torque wrench set at 8 ft-lbs and was tightening the cam caps in an even, cross manner. 
So now the head has come out again and will go to a machine shop in order to have a threaded insert pressed into the head.
I will need a new head gasket, new head gasket o-rings and new copper washers for the domed nuts.  I was wondering if I would need a new base gasket as well.  I have not removed the cylinder block, but since the had has been removed and the tension is not there anymore is it necessary to replace the base gasket?  The initial reason for taking the top end apart was to fix a base gasket leak.  It would be a shame to put it back together and have it leak again.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks