Pictures of De-glazing my 3.2 Carrera Cylinders

Determined · Determined's Garage

I know that you can't hone 3.2L Carrera cylinders because they are the plated type so I read up on other forums on how to clean them up without damaging. I used some red 3M scotch bright pad and cut them to fit my Sears honing tool then lightly lubed my cylinders and in the honing tool went. I used a low rpm and full-in and full-out passes into my cylinder. I set the tension on my hone to be light for only cleaning purposes. You can still see the factory honing marks, this process only removed all the old oil film that build up. They came out rather nice and shinny.

Alex

Henry Schmidt · Henry Schmidt's Garage

I like the direction you went.
The only thing I would do differently is use detergent and hot water rather than oil.
This acts as a lubricant and allows the Scotch Brite to work a little more effectively.

Determined · Determined's Garage

Thanks Henry, surprisingly it came out rather well. Do you know what the plating material is and thick? I have another set that I believe one may need replating only.

Alex

Henry Schmidt · Henry Schmidt's Garage

Nikasil is the material. High nickel chrome.

Generally about .005 " thick. I'll defer to Charles' greater knowledge on the thickness and make-up of Nikasil

BTW: there is relitively no chance of damaging the Nikasil with the Scotch-Brite.

cnavarro · 07-20-2006, 06:47 AM

The nikasil is a nickel silicon carbide matrix; the factory nikasil cylinders I checked had plating about .0015-.0025" thick, which is very easy to plow through if attempting to hone them true. It takes quite some skill to get the nikasil thicker without having it want to peel or flake. We shoot for .0045-.005" thick and go through a multi-part acid etching process to ensure optimal adhesion and our platers have done destructive testing through which they can measure the adhesion and have adjusted the nikasil process accordingly for adhesion. It's a great thing to what the entire process from start to end. And most definately, there is no way the scotch brite / 3m pad is going to go through. We recommend the same process with hot soapy water to deglaze cylinders.