Is there any kind of maintenance involved when replacing pistons? I mean since it's nikasiled no deglazing etc?
I had a kx cyl on a Tecate and don't remember doing anything for the electrofusion bore surface when replacing the piston.
If the bore is straight, round and does not have scratches, I do not recommend honing a plated cylinder. ALWAYS measure the cylinder and piston to determine the cylinder condition and verify that the piston to cylinder wall clearance is within spec.
De-glazing will reduce the time it takes the ring and piston to break-in, but it will also reduce piston and ring life. Nikasil is a very hard material and a new or freshly honed cylinder is much more abrasive than one that has already worn out a piston and set of rings.
Some factory service manuals say to use a ball hone to deglaze the cylinder before installing new rings or piston. I do not think that recommendation came from the engineering or manufacturing department but from someone with limited mechanical and machining experience that was hired to help write service manuals. If you will think about what material is removed and the process of what happens to the surface of the bore while using a ball hone vs a rigid mandrel type hone, it will become obvious why a ball hone should never be used on anything other than to remove rust from inside an old water pipe or to clean sewer pipe.
There are not very many shops that will spend the money to buy good honing equipment. A good ball hone typically cost under $100.00. A Sunnen honing mandrel loaded with diamond stones cost a little over $1000.00 and it only fit cylinders that are within a few millimeters of its size. It takes a whole cabinet of these costly mandrels to cover the range of cylinders sizes where 3 or four ball hones will cover the same range of sizes.
