Every ball-brush or three-arm stone hone I've seen has had 220 grit elements. I'll pull out my GM Factory service manual (I think it's Vol.3) and see what the factory says for what grit for honing the cylinders and let you know.
Husker6.5, thanks for the help and any info. Different engine builder's certainly have much different opinions in the way of these 6.5's I've learned. These ball hones are very elusive as well as you get into the finer grits. I've decided that because my engine is super clean with minimal wear, re-bearing and re-ring will only help although everything is within specs. Ive decided to use a 600 grit ball hone to just deglaze for the new rings. I will be using a Total Seal gapless ring. I'm definetly interested in what the manual says too. Thanks
@Corvette502 Here are photos straight out of the GM Factory Service Manual for '98 P/U and Suburban, all engines and drivetrains. The don't list actual grits, just refer to coarse, medium and fine depending on the amount of metal to be removed and if it's a finish honing. I wonder of the dealerships have a standard factory honing kit where the stones are marked as "coarse", "medium", and "fine"? I wonder if a person could call a stealership service department and get the answer? Of note, they do recommend that the hatchmark pattern be intersecting at 45° to 65° angles
Thanks for the info guys. After poling several engine builders and machine shops, I think 320 grit with a 4.25 flex hone is the way to go. This engine is super clean with no ring ridge whatsoever. I'm going to use a fixed speed 450 rpm drill motor. I'll take a few pics and post them.
Yeah. 600 grit is WAY too fine! That's what you use when wet sanding car paint to get a mirror finish! You want some "bite" so that the grooves hold a trace of oil to lubricate the rings as they go by. We used 240 to finish hone my .030 over 4 bolt main large journal 327 (TRW 9.5:1 pistons with F-M moly rings) and I used about a half a quart of synthetic 10W30 oil every 4000 miles.