When To Clean Up Cylinder Walls?

[Eric67]

I have a dumb question here......

I've got a 396 BBC from my camaro with a spun rod bearing. I have most of the parts on hand to fix it, but on close inspection, there is a slight score mark on one of the cylinder walls. It's not huge, my fingernail won't catch in it, but I can feel it.

Work sucks right now, my pay has been cut with the economy and all, so I don't have much extra money. I know most people think these things are boat anchors, but it ran grrreat before I wrecked it. If I can put this thing back together on the cheap, I can start saving right away for a better mill in a few years.

When should an engine be overbored to clean things up? Everything else looks great, you can even still make out faint cross hatching from the last rebuild, and there is virtually no ridge on top of the cylinder walls. Can I run a flex hone in there? Can I touch the spot with scotch brite?

It's got an all forged bottom end, so the parts are decent in this lump, so I hope someone can let me know if I can put it back together or if I'm screwed.

[Pro Stock]

I have a dumb question here......

I've got a 396 BBC from my camaro with a spun rod bearing. I have most of the parts on hand to fix it, but on close inspection, there is a slight score mark on one of the cylinder walls. It's not huge, my fingernail won't catch in it, but I can feel it.

Work sucks right now, my pay has been cut with the economy and all, so I don't have much extra money. I know most people think these things are boat anchors, but it ran grrreat before I wrecked it. If I can put this thing back together on the cheap, I can start saving right away for a better mill in a few years.

When should an engine be overbored to clean things up? Everything else looks great, you can even still make out faint cross hatching from the last rebuild, and there is virtually no ridge on top of the cylinder walls. Can I run a flex hone in there? Can I touch the spot with scotch brite?

It's got an all forged bottom end, so the parts are decent in this lump, so I hope someone can let me know if I can put it back together or if I'm screwed.

Eric, I would just give it a light clean up with a Flex Hone, either use honing oil or a mixture of solvent and light weight motor oil while honing, just do the cylinders that are blemished and put it together with the old rings. Don't apologize for your 396 "lump" I've seen some pretty badass 396's in my day, just remember that it's bigger than 383 stroker and has better heads than most small blocks.

Dale