Performance Coatings

[DaveC]

Just wondering if anybody has used any coatings, such as offered by Swain Tech ( http://www.swaintech.com ). I have used a couple different exhaust coatings, and have the swain exhaust coatings on my rally car (I think exhaust coatings have been covered), but how about any experience or thoughts about piston dome (ceramic) and skirt coatings (moly), and if the moly skirt coatings are compatable with aluminum cylinder bores. Swain also coats combustion chambers, valves, and exhaust ports. There's an oil-repellant coating for cranks and rods to reduce windage losses. They even have heat dissipating coatings for brake components, cylinder heads, etc.

I searched on this topic, but no luck. What do you think, waste of $$$, or possible performance benefit?

[DaveC]

Just wondering if anybody has used any coatings, such as offered by Swain Tech ( http://www.swaintech.com ). I have used a couple different exhaust coatings, and have the swain exhaust coatings on my rally car (I think exhaust coatings have been covered), but how about any experience or thoughts about piston dome (ceramic) and skirt coatings (moly), and if the moly skirt coatings are compatable with aluminum cylinder bores. Swain also coats combustion chambers, valves, and exhaust ports. There's an oil-repellant coating for cranks and rods to reduce windage losses. They even have heat dissipating coatings for brake components, cylinder heads, etc.

I searched on this topic, but no luck. What do you think, waste of $$$, or possible performance benefit?

[Dan G]

I'm having the main and rod bearings on my new 951 coated by Calico with CT-1 dry film lubricant.

http://www.calicocoatings.com/

They offer a full line of engine coatings and their prices are very reasonable. Usually a 48hr turnaround too, since they deal alot with race teams.

I don't have any further experience, but so far I've been impressed with their professionalism and customer service.

I've also heard nothing but positive comments about SwainTech coatings. The coatings won't make you 30 hp or anything, but they will offer you some cheap insurance and increased reliability.

[Erich Ohlde]

Look at polydyn in texas. They offer free coating for fsae +shipping. We used them for our exhaust coating in 05 and it looks awesome. We are going to go the whole 9 yards this year with engine coatings too.

[Dan G]

Free? I like that price!

[DaveC]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Look at polydyn in texas. They offer free coating for fsae +shipping. We used them for our exhaust coating in 05 and it looks awesome. We are going to go the whole 9 yards this year with engine coatings too.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Cool, free stuff, thanks much for the tip. I would really like to send in our motor for the full coating treatment, but that would mean BIG $$$ from Swain, which is why I started this post. We dont have unlimited funding... I sent an email to Swain asking them to possibly respond here, maybe we'll hear from them in a few days, maybe they'll even offer some services http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[DaveC]

One other experience with exhaust coatings... I got a set of Heddman Elite headers for my Suburban (TBI 350) and some header wrap. I didnt know they came with a ceramic coating. I wasnt going to use the wrap, but I was unhappy with the way they fit my truck, so I did an experiment with using wrap on coated headers. Well, after 5-10,000 miles, theyre holding up fine. I even drove 20 miles to a friends house, popped the hood with the truck still running to show him my new exhaust, and he said "whats this?" while touching my headers about 3" away from the exhaut ports, and didn't get burned AT ALL. I tried it and I'd guess you could leave your hand on the headers for .5 sec without getting burnt!

[Erich Ohlde]

polydyn is a major leading in performance low friction coatings. I'd talk to them about their engine coating stuff too.

Definately run the wrap and the ceramic. especially on our carbon chassis. our seatback gets really hot with the engine idling

[Denny Trimble]

You don't need header wrap to cure your hot seatback / melting carbon chassis problems. An aluminum heat shield or reflective tape will solve those problems, without absorbing oil/fuel/water like header wrap does.

But that was another thread. (http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/71810447321/r/19910877321#19910877321)

[DaveC]

Swain Tech emailed me. They offer %20 off for fsae teams, and said they have worked with many teams in the past. Not as cheap as Polydyn, though...