What is honing a block?

You can hone just about any engine and it will work out fine, unless it already has broken pistons due to piston slap (too much clearance) already. So if the engine isn't already a basket case, honing it would most always be an improvement. The cross-hatch pattern is actually an X and 20 degrees is as good as 80 degrees as far as the angle of the cross goes - I've seen both work as I've done both just to see if there was a difference. The idea mainly is to avoid a 'straight' or totally circular pattern which can chip the edge off of the rings. .002 to .006 clearance is fine for just about any engine and I've seen many with .020 and still running strong.

I'm not suggesting you lower your standards of acceptable machine shop practices or anything like that - if I paid for a $1000 overhaul I would expect no less than the standards you suggest either. But there is a LOT of lee way before we get to that $1000 mark.

A machine shop in general has to guarantee their work and to do so they HAVE to follow the guide lines you quote as far as general servicable tolerances. As such you won't find my side of this issue supported any where but by me, right here, right now. And the OP should EXPECT to hear the same high cost standards espoused at the machine shop, but that still doesn't mean that's the ONLY way to do it. Thanks for setting the high water mark, John, and here is to hoping the OP and you can afford your own advice always, I'm not so lucky.

Jimmy, you should take the block to a machine shop and have it checked out by somebody in the engine rebuild business. They can check the bores for wear and "out of roundness" against factory specs and also give you an opinion about the pits. There is also the ridge at the top of the cylinder where the top ring stops at the end of the stroke. This needs to be cut out "ridge reamed" if you hone only. It is not a problem when boring because the boring operation will cut it out.

Something to keep in mind. Not all shops can handle a bore the size of the bigger 2 cylinder John Deeres. I found one in my area that rebuilds dump truck and semi tractor engines. Best way to learn about boring, honing, etc, is to stick around while the shop does its thing.