Proper size hone

[Jarhead ☠]

Good evening group,
I'm looking for help in regards to the proper size flex hone for my XL-123 (46mm) and they only have 45-48mm.
They say the hones are oversized so I'm wondering if the 45mm would be best?

Thanks for the information.

[onlyhomelites]

I've only used the 3-shoe spring loaded hones...afraid I have no experience with a flex hone. But I can say you want to be very light with any honing you do, the chrome is not very thick.

[Jarhead ☠]

I wasn't sure if I could use the 3 spring style due to the channels on the sides.

[xl130]

I have a 3 shoe home that I played with to see how well it would work.

I found out that you either cannot or it is very difficult to change the direction of the 3 shoe hone. I had watched some videos of people using a ball hone and they would Work the cylinder in one direction, then the other to get a cross pattern.

That didn’t work out well for me... the hone fetched up in the intake and exhaust ports!

I would suggest you practice in a cylinder you don’t really care about before you start working on the XL-123. I had a hard time locating a NOS for my XL-130.

Possibly buffing with a scotchbrite pad and WD-40 may work for you?

Keep us up to date on how you do. This is something I would like to know more about. I have a couple Super mini cylinders that need some work, but don’t have any experience with it.

[Jarhead ☠]

I've used the flex hone on my 2" cylinders with no problem at all and it does a wonderful job, my only concern was the proper size tool (46mm) isn't available.
I just spoke with Brush Research (flex hone) and they said 48mm will work fine.