Boring the cylinder on an aluminum Briggs-Stratton

[DavidC]

I have an older Briggs-Stratton engine, aluminum block, model series 130000. The engine lost it's compression and after pressure testing it, I determined it was the rings. After doing a measurement of the cylinder bore, it was about .017 over the specs. After checking locally, no one can get the block into their machine to bore it, so I had the idea that maybe with the correct stones I could use a cylinder hone with a drill and hone the .003 needed to make it a .020 over cylinder. So, if this idea is feasible, could someone recommend the grit for the stones needed for this job.

Now, I have also seen mentioned that when an aluminum block comes to the point of needing to be bored, it should just be trashed and not waste any time on trying to repair it. So, I am asking if my idea of honing the cylinder would be just a waste of time? Thanks.

 

[StarTech]

You would need a rigid hone tool and not a flex type as a flex type just make the taper and oval worst. The tools are not cheap by a long shot.

Lisle 16000 hone with 16400 280 fine grit stone set for aluminum bore cylinder or 16430 180 medium grit cast iron cylinder. The tool comes with the 6410, 16420 and 16430 medium grit stone sets. The base tool is around $200 plus you will need a high power 1/2" slow variable speed drill (under 500 rpm). And you don't get much above 250 rpm while honing the cylinder.

But if you are at .017 over already I kinda doubt it will clean up at .020 over as the taper is probably already pass .020 over and the last track I had of piston for this engine is that Briggs no longer supplies the .030 one. But make multiple level measurements at 90 degrees of each other to verify the worst measurement is only .017 over.

 

[DavidC]

You would need a rigid hone tool and not a flex type as a flex type just make the taper and oval worst. The tools are not cheap by a long shot.

Lisle 16000 hone with 16400 280 fine grit stone set for aluminum bore cylinder or 16430 180 medium grit cast iron cylinder. The tool comes with the 6410, 16420 and 16430 medium grit stone sets. The base tool is around $200 plus you will need a high power 1/2" slow variable speed drill (under 500 rpm). And you don't get much above 250 rpm while honing the cylinder.

But if you are at .017 over already I kinda doubt it will clean up at .020 over as the taper is probably already pass .020 over and the last track I had of piston for this engine is that Briggs no longer supplies the .030 one. But make multiple level measurements at 90 degrees of each other to verify the worst measurement is only .017 over.

Thank you for your reply and the valuable info. I will make the additional measurements as you suggested and then I can decide if the job is worth tackling. The block probably would clean up at .030, but that piston is hard to find, and I don't know if I want to invest that much money in the hone for a one and done job. The engine came off an old Troy-Bilt Colt tiller and I wanted to see if I could breathe some life in the thing and try to sell the tiller, but it seems that I would get little return on my investment. Thanks again for the reply.