i was told you are only supposed to use a ball hone is this true? whats the reason behind this??

i just finished honing my 350 block tonight. it gets rid of the scores and unwanted carbon. shines the cylinders up pretty good. time consuming, pays off though.

i did use a stone ball hone and a drill to do this job. worked very good

A 3 stone hone can end up causing the cylinder to be tapered. The object of honing is to break the glaze on the cylinder wall, with a 3 stone its almost like youre trying to bore the cylinder. But without any alignment. Also the stone hone will remove more material from the center of the cylinder instead of the ends.

A ball hone does a real nice job very quickly. It removes very little material but produces a nice finish easily.

gotcha, i see why too.

thanks

is tranny fluid a good lubricant to use during a hone job?

if all you're wanting to do is remove the glaze a stone type hone will work fine. it doesn't remove enough metal to change the size or shape of the bore. ball hones are great but a stone hone works. if you're wanting to increase bore size you need to take it to a shop and have it done on a boring bar.