I would never paint a lifter valley with spray paint...how you wouldn't either. 
Block Coating?
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Block Coating?
What is that coating called that you can put on the lifter valley walls to keep oil from sticking and lets it run off easier?
I have a few things I want to coat.
I have a few things I want to coat.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,282
Likes: 172
From: Lake Wylie, South Carolina
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Race Director
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 10,039
Likes: 668
From: FL
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 3,053
Likes: 4
St. Jude Donor '03,'11
i've always had a problem with doing this on a street engine. Any coating will eventually heat cycle harden, then crack and flake off. I just don't know how you get the block oil free enough to get good adhesion.
Remember a lot of these techniques are intended for race engines that get torn down after a year or less.
Its not going to last 20 years in a street engine.
Remember a lot of these techniques are intended for race engines that get torn down after a year or less.
Its not going to last 20 years in a street engine.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
10 Revolutionary 'Corvette Firsts' Most People Don't Know
Joe Kucinski
5 Reasons to Upgrade to an LS6-Powered Corvette; 5 Reasons to Stay LT2
Michael S. Palmer
2027 Corvette vs The World: Every C8 vs Its Closest Competitor
Joe Kucinski
10 Most Common Corvette Problems of the Last 20 Years!
Joe Kucinski
Pro
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 721
Likes: 105
From: hernando fl
that hot oil on the bare cast iron also aids in heat transfer, i read somewhere it was a lot of trouble for no gain of any kind. all of that with a possible huge downside if the coating doesn't stick. i would think long and hard before i did it.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
I guess it all comes down to what day you ask and who answers.
I could ask this another day, or read when someone else posted it, and they get nothing but comments from guys that use it religiously and love it.
I have flip flopped a few times on this. I have the chance to put it on in my 405 before I complete the build. I was originally talked into it, then out of it, back into it, and now...back out of it.
Hard choice to make. I don't want to affect cooling, but I like the idea of the oil getting back down to the sump faster.
Man o man.
I could ask this another day, or read when someone else posted it, and they get nothing but comments from guys that use it religiously and love it.
I have flip flopped a few times on this. I have the chance to put it on in my 405 before I complete the build. I was originally talked into it, then out of it, back into it, and now...back out of it.
Hard choice to make. I don't want to affect cooling, but I like the idea of the oil getting back down to the sump faster.
Man o man.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 20,847
Likes: 959
From: I tend to be leery of any guy who doesn't own a chainsaw or a handgun.
Besides, painting the internals of a street engine always made me uncomfortable. I gotta agree with Turtle's comment about flaking paint (heading straight for the oil pump screen).
Pro
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 721
Likes: 105
From: hernando fl
my gut feeling is that it doesn't effect cooling enough to worry about, but i also have a gut feeling that unless you are doing some serious driving,long sweeping high speed turns where there is a possibility of your oil pickup sucking air ,painting the lifter valley to get max oil return is not going to matter a whole lot one way or the other. i have heard of some guys who have opened up the return holes to a larger size and deburred the lifter valley,i assume that would help.
if you want a little more to ponder i also knew a few guys who painted (glyptal) everything, lifter valley , underside of the block timing chain area, everything that had oil draing back to the pan,their reason was to trap anything abraisive under the coating to keep it from getting loose and doing any damage.
hope i didn't confuse things even more
if you want a little more to ponder i also knew a few guys who painted (glyptal) everything, lifter valley , underside of the block timing chain area, everything that had oil draing back to the pan,their reason was to trap anything abraisive under the coating to keep it from getting loose and doing any damage.
hope i didn't confuse things even more
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 10,628
Likes: 132
From: Duvall, WA
Over on the Pontiac forum I frequent, a forum member took the valve covers off for the first time and discovered his rockers had been painted with a metallic paint that had flaked off. Now he has to take his engine apart to flush the paint out of it. Lesson: don't paint your rocker arms (though I think anyone who is smart enough to read is also smart enough to know this already).
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,112
Likes: 28
From: Florida
I don't bother with either, but I would assume the oil is doing most of the heat transfer in all cases.
BTW, I while back I took a forklift engine apart that hadn't been apart in 15 years that I know of, and it had a painted coating on the internals that had not deteriorated.
BTW, I while back I took a forklift engine apart that hadn't been apart in 15 years that I know of, and it had a painted coating on the internals that had not deteriorated.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 5,202
Likes: 10
From: cincinnati ohio
St. Jude Donor '09
Among the reasons they began to paint the inside block surfaces was to seal in any potentially loose casting flash or sand that might fall off. Another was the aforementioned faster oil drain back, which I contend is probably negligible at best. On the typical street motor does anyone really have a big problem with oil not returning to the sump quickly enough?
In my opinion if it's not there, it won't cause any problems
In my opinion if it's not there, it won't cause any problems
Racer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 418
Likes: 0
From: destin fl
I guess it all comes down to what day you ask and who answers.
I could ask this another day, or read when someone else posted it, and they get nothing but comments from guys that use it religiously and love it.
I have flip flopped a few times on this. I have the chance to put it on in my 405 before I complete the build. I was originally talked into it, then out of it, back into it, and now...back out of it.
Hard choice to make. I don't want to affect cooling, but I like the idea of the oil getting back down to the sump faster.
Man o man.
I could ask this another day, or read when someone else posted it, and they get nothing but comments from guys that use it religiously and love it.
I have flip flopped a few times on this. I have the chance to put it on in my 405 before I complete the build. I was originally talked into it, then out of it, back into it, and now...back out of it.
Hard choice to make. I don't want to affect cooling, but I like the idea of the oil getting back down to the sump faster.
Man o man.
