hey first time poster and first Harley..its a 78 my mom parked in the garage 20+ yrs ago and just gave it to me recently.it was running when she parked it but said it was smoking due to worn rings.I am in the process of a top end rebuild.i got hastings moly rings and all the gaskets but wonder others opinion on wheather I should hone the cylinders or not.They both look good with no scratches.1 cylinder has a very small nik in it.ive read some forums where they say it can be tricky on an ironhead.the shop I talked to only has a dingleberry.would I be ok to not hone or better off honing?

 

You need to hone....if you want to assure the new rings seat properly. It doesn't cost much, and you can do it yourself if you want, but you really should do it.

 

I would have the cylinders and pistons measured for fitment; torque cylinders in torque plates and measure top, center and bottom of piston travel on six axes. A competent machine shop with torque plates can do this. It would be shame to put her back together only to hear piston slap.

If you do hone, I would not use the dingle berry; they can remove a lot of material very quickly. A machine shop with a Sunnen or similar machine can surface hone and not remove any material, just cross hatch the surface.

 

Hone, and measure ring end gap per your manual.

Moly rings seat very quick. When you get it started, get her on the road ASAP and in high gear, drop RPM to a minimum then open the throttle wide open and let her pull up to around 3k RPM. I try to drop to 1k then WOT to 3k about 3 or 4 times to seat moly rings. After that they are seated which is why they required that freshly honed surface to scrub in.

 

I'd suggest you have those heads looked at as well.
The exhaust guides in those used to get gobbled up in no time, which would usually gall the valve stems, and as long as I'm the subject, bet good money the valve springs are toast also.
Scott