Stock Cylinders

[dave]

Can anyone tell me if our CB1100 cylinder bores are hard chrome (Nikasil) plated ?

[pekingduck]

Nikasil is a proprietary process that is considered a surface plating.  The process Honda uses is a deeply impregnated hardness process that allows for a single 0.25 mm overbore.  It may be their own process, as it has been used in their bikes and cars for many years.

There is no iron liner as on older air-cooled models, heat absorption/dissipation is crucial, and iron is a poorer conductor, and there is less complete contact between cylinder and liner.

[dave]

Nikasil is a proprietary process that is considered a surface plating.  The process Honda uses is a deeply impregnated hardness process that allows for a single 0.25 mm overbore.  It may be their own process, as it has been used in their bikes and cars for many years.

There is no iron liner as on older air-cooled models, heat absorption/dissipation is crucial, and iron is a poorer conductor, and there is less complete contact between cylinder and liner.

Thanks pekingduck. Does Honda use the Fiber Reinforced Metal process on the CB1100 cylinders, or the thermal spray coating (Nikasil by trade name)?

[pekingduck]

Nikasil is a proprietary process that is considered a surface plating.  The process Honda uses is a deeply impregnated hardness process that allows for a single 0.25 mm overbore.  It may be their own process, as it has been used in their bikes and cars for many years.

There is no iron liner as on older air-cooled models, heat absorption/dissipation is crucial, and iron is a poorer conductor, and there is less complete contact between cylinder and liner.

Thanks pekingduck. Does Honda use the Fiber Reinforced Metal process on the CB1100 cylinders, or the thermal spray coating (Nikasil by trade name)?

It's not Nikasil, which is not borable - it's impregnated deep into the aluminum deep enough to bore it 0.25mm.  It's not a spray coating.

[tdbru]

So, about how many miles does one get before the rings have worn through the aluminum cylinder bores and a new set is required?
thanks,
tdbru

[pekingduck]

So, about how many miles does one get before the rings have worn through the aluminum cylinder bores and a new set is required?
thanks,
tdbru

This is the same process Honda uses on their cars.  Rings are the same high quality. Machining is so precise, pistons and rings perfectly fit the bores. Cylinder walls will wear very little.

So maybe 125-150+k miles before you have to even think about it.  And likely a new set of original rings will take it to 200k.

Remember having to keep engine speeds low on new bike break-in? New materials/machining techniques have made that unnecessary.