Poppin' Fresh Pistons!
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Poppin' Fresh Pistons!
Ceramic coated my pistons this afternoon with the stuff from Tech Line Coatings.. man this stuff is AWESOME! For $25, I got a 3oz bottle. I barely used 1/2 an oz (if that much) doing 8 pistons.
You spray this stuff with a small airbrush in a fairly thin coat after you sandblast the tops of the pistons and clean them with denatured alcohol. Let it dry and then stick them in the oven. The nice thing is the coating is water based, so it doesn't stink up the oven.
After they bake at 350 degrees for an hour, you let them cool and hit them with 00 or better steel wool and they polish right up:
The result is a box full of ceramic coated pistons at a fraction of the price... (these are actually my stock pistons, cleaned up!)
Next on the list is my cylinder heads. Valves, chambers, and exhaust port will get the same treatment!
[Modified by Ken73, 6:36 PM 10/20/2002]
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (ZD75blue)
You have to look at it like this; paint is a carrier for solids. It's solids plus a solvent. The solids that this paint carries however, is a ceramic coating that melts during the baking process and forms an extremely hard surface that's very thin. The solvent actually dries within a few minutes; the only reason it's in "paint" form is so that it can be sprayed uniformly.
If it tells you anything, this is the same stuff the professionals use. The prep work took me all morning long just to do the 8 pistons, though. First of all, you have to CLEAN the pistons - I dunked each one in chem-dip and got them 95% clean; this took over a week to do. (One or two a night after work.) Once that was done, I masked them and sandblasted them. Remove the mask, blow out any extra sand, then wipe it down with denatured alcohol to get any gunk off. Then mask it again (for painting) and spray the coating on. Let it dry (you can see in one of the above photos what it looks like wet) and then bake it for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
They also have some other coatings but this company manufactures a lot of the different coatings. This one they happen to make in a retail version so you can do it yourself. Saved me a ton of money!
If it tells you anything, this is the same stuff the professionals use. The prep work took me all morning long just to do the 8 pistons, though. First of all, you have to CLEAN the pistons - I dunked each one in chem-dip and got them 95% clean; this took over a week to do. (One or two a night after work.) Once that was done, I masked them and sandblasted them. Remove the mask, blow out any extra sand, then wipe it down with denatured alcohol to get any gunk off. Then mask it again (for painting) and spray the coating on. Let it dry (you can see in one of the above photos what it looks like wet) and then bake it for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
They also have some other coatings but this company manufactures a lot of the different coatings. This one they happen to make in a retail version so you can do it yourself. Saved me a ton of money!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2002
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From: Aggravation TN
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Ken73)
That is wicked! The "obvious" question (of course) is: How do ya think it's going to hold up?
{Don't take this question as a detraction; just an honest question.}
{Don't take this question as a detraction; just an honest question.}
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
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Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Rebel w Cawz 2 B)
Ken's description of the ceramics is accurate. It'll sinter into a thin layer. The meticilous prep work is required to make sure the stuff won;t come loose. The blasting is done to provide a rough surace, the sintering process makes the powder layers liquid and melts them together, they will also migrate into the pores, giving it a much larger surface to bind.
Marck
Marck
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Semper ubi, sub ubi
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Cruise-In VII Veteran
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Ken73)
This looks alot like the Ceramacoat that Techline sells, except that stuff requires 500 degrees for an hour. I did an old set of valve covers just to test the stuff and they turned out great. They look so good I'm thinking about putting them on my ZZ4.
I am helping a buddy with a project truck, 53 Chevy that he is putting a 400 SBC in. I got a set of C-4 Stainless exhaust manifolds from fauxrs, they look like shorty headers. I'm going to Ceramacoat them and we are going to use them on the '53 pickup.
The stuff is easy to use, but like Twinnie said it is VERY important that the material be fastidiously clean and free of anything.
I am helping a buddy with a project truck, 53 Chevy that he is putting a 400 SBC in. I got a set of C-4 Stainless exhaust manifolds from fauxrs, they look like shorty headers. I'm going to Ceramacoat them and we are going to use them on the '53 pickup.
The stuff is easy to use, but like Twinnie said it is VERY important that the material be fastidiously clean and free of anything.
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Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Lt1er)
Those are just the stock pistons out of my original block. They're TRW though, if you look underneath. I don't know if they're cast/forged/what either.
This stuff is REALLY hard once it's cured - it literally becomes part of the metal. I don't think the color really means anything other than just an indicator of what material they use as the coating. If it can't survive being hit gently with a hammer it certainly doesn't belong in my motor.
This stuff is REALLY hard once it's cured - it literally becomes part of the metal. I don't think the color really means anything other than just an indicator of what material they use as the coating. If it can't survive being hit gently with a hammer it certainly doesn't belong in my motor.
Race Director
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Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Ken73)
They are the TRW 646446 Forged pistons, used in the L82 engine. The L83 has them too.
They were still offered by GMPP some time ago, they're however not listed anymore (on http://www.spoperformanceparts.com )
Marck
They were still offered by GMPP some time ago, they're however not listed anymore (on http://www.spoperformanceparts.com )
Marck
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Twinnie)
They are the TRW 646446 Forged pistons, used in the L82 engine. The L83 has them too.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 239
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From: Fredericksburg VA
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Twinnie)
Ken,
Are you going to apply it to the back of the exhaust valve? I've never heard if this helps reduce heat conduction more than it hurts exhaust valve cooling during overlap. Maybe the answer is different for race and street engines. Does anybody know the answer? Thanks.
Are you going to apply it to the back of the exhaust valve? I've never heard if this helps reduce heat conduction more than it hurts exhaust valve cooling during overlap. Maybe the answer is different for race and street engines. Does anybody know the answer? Thanks.
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 1999
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From: Reno Nevada
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist- Modified
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (HeaderDesign.com)
Ken, I had my pistons, chambers and exhaust valves done. The exhaust valve is completly covered up the stem to the guide. then you just reface the seat to get back down to metal and lap them in. I should have done the inside of my exhaust ports. but I didn't because I planned to really have them ported at some later date if I use them on a 420+ ci small block
I see that your into header design. My Dart heads are standard type port (Not Spread) The problem was the exhaust ports are so huge that i had to hog out the flanges on 1 3/4 headers to get near a port match. They were also raised @ .600 inch. They really need 1 7/8th as is or 2 inch with more porting.
I see that your into header design. My Dart heads are standard type port (Not Spread) The problem was the exhaust ports are so huge that i had to hog out the flanges on 1 3/4 headers to get near a port match. They were also raised @ .600 inch. They really need 1 7/8th as is or 2 inch with more porting.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (HeaderDesign.com)
Ken,
Are you going to apply it to the back of the exhaust valve? I've never heard if this helps reduce heat conduction more than it hurts exhaust valve cooling during overlap. Maybe the answer is different for race and street engines. Does anybody know the answer? Thanks.
Are you going to apply it to the back of the exhaust valve? I've never heard if this helps reduce heat conduction more than it hurts exhaust valve cooling during overlap. Maybe the answer is different for race and street engines. Does anybody know the answer? Thanks.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 16,945
Likes: 9
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (HeaderDesign.com)
Ken,
Are you going to apply it to the back of the exhaust valve? I've never heard if this helps reduce heat conduction more than it hurts exhaust valve cooling during overlap. Maybe the answer is different for race and street engines. Does anybody know the answer? Thanks.
Are you going to apply it to the back of the exhaust valve? I've never heard if this helps reduce heat conduction more than it hurts exhaust valve cooling during overlap. Maybe the answer is different for race and street engines. Does anybody know the answer? Thanks.
Marck
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 6,366
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Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (Twinnie)
I have read some other posts in other forums about coating just about everything in the motor.
Piston top and skirts, cumbustion chamber, valves, rods and crank.
Could this DIY stuff be used on all these other parts as well? or is it mainly used on the piston tops?
Piston top and skirts, cumbustion chamber, valves, rods and crank.
Could this DIY stuff be used on all these other parts as well? or is it mainly used on the piston tops?
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,961
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: Poppin' Fresh Pistons! (bill mcdonald)
I have read some other posts in other forums about coating just about everything in the motor.
Piston top and skirts, cumbustion chamber, valves, rods and crank.
Could this DIY stuff be used on all these other parts as well? or is it mainly used on the piston tops?
Piston top and skirts, cumbustion chamber, valves, rods and crank.
Could this DIY stuff be used on all these other parts as well? or is it mainly used on the piston tops?
Take a look at http://www.techlinecoatings.com - that's where I got it. However, be prepared to do all the prep work - sandblasting especially. You can't skip these steps!
