Piston thermal coating

[Mark O'Neal]

The Techline Powerkote is baked on at 350'f/177'c, that's nowhere near the temp needed to take the heat treatment out of aluminium.
That's a fact, not some unsubstantiated (half baked?) comment.

No one has ever made an error either. Heat treat guys have caused me more problems than any other segment of the machining world, probably because it's partially magic.

The fact is that, once I got through the coating, the piston cut like gum. And, my old partner was with me, so it wasn't unsubstantiated.

Piston tops typically get up around 375f. If you're getting them a lot hotter than that, coatings are fixing a symptom without addressing the problem.,

[MadBill]

attachment=0]Piston Temperature.jpg[/attachment]

[4vpc]

The Techline Powerkote is baked on at 350'f/177'c, that's nowhere near the temp needed to take the heat treatment out of aluminium.
That's a fact, not some unsubstantiated (half baked?) comment.

No one has ever made an error either. Heat treat guys have caused me more problems than any other segment of the machining world, probably because it's partially magic.

The fact is that, once I got through the coating, the piston cut like gum. And, my old partner was with me, so it wasn't unsubstantiated.

Piston tops typically get up around 375f. If you're getting them a lot hotter than that, coatings are fixing a symptom without addressing the problem.,

You can't blame the failure on the product when it's the idiot that cooked the piston being the cause. It is unsubstantiated as you don't seem to know what went on with the piston before you got it.
You've only got to read some of the posts in this thread to see how much misinformation there is.
When i've seen various back to back tests done by a reputable independent source then i'll be happy, until then the jury is out on coatings for me.

[digger]

attachment=0]Piston Temperature.jpg[/attachment]

measurements done by an OEM (Mahle)

[ptuomov]

Are there any known issues with coating used pistons vs coating new pistons? What sort of treatment one needs to give to a used piston before applying TBC to the crown?

[In-Tech]

Example of Marine engine piston that I was called in to tune. There was NO tune that was going to save the bad supercharged combination. The EGT's wouldn't even stabilize at 1650f. I informed the customer all the things I felt wrong and showed him with all the datalogging equipment hooked up and what would happen and also how to nurse it a bit till he wanted to have it built right. I showed him how he could "drag race" his buddies, have fun and not get towed in based on time at WOT. He nursed it for almost 3 years then called me and said he was going to "wood it" till it blew. Would coated pistons saved it? I don't think so. Check my sig line.

I did rebuild the pair of engines, replaced one head, sleeved one cylinder, corrected the faults in the heads with port and chamber work and of course put a cam in it designed to work with his combo. I think that was 5 or 6 seasons ago, occasionally he sends a pic of the chicks on the boat and sitting at WOT ~6500 rpm for a 15 mile stretch on the river and lakes he frequents. It's easy to make horsepower, hard to make it live.

CAM00128.jpg

CAM00129.jpg

I guess what I am saying is thermal coating might be a bandaid if stuff goes wrong(piston domes, skirts, bearings, etc) but as far as depending on it to save the doom and gloom of a bad combination, it ain't gonna happen.

[Mark O'Neal]

The Techline Powerkote is baked on at 350'f/177'c, that's nowhere near the temp needed to take the heat treatment out of aluminium.
That's a fact, not some unsubstantiated (half baked?) comment.

No one has ever made an error either. Heat treat guys have caused me more problems than any other segment of the machining world, probably because it's partially magic.

The fact is that, once I got through the coating, the piston cut like gum. And, my old partner was with me, so it wasn't unsubstantiated.

Piston tops typically get up around 375f. If you're getting them a lot hotter than that, coatings are fixing a symptom without addressing the problem.,

You can't blame the failure on the product when it's the idiot that cooked the piston being the cause. It is unsubstantiated as you don't seem to know what went on with the piston before you got it.
You've only got to read some of the posts in this thread to see how much misinformation there is.
When i've seen various back to back tests done by a reputable independent source then i'll be happy, until then the jury is out on coatings for me.

I didn't coat them. I also didn't say it happened every time. I said that is it a great way to take the heat treat out of the pistons. The fact that someone had to screw the pooch to accomplish this is irrelevant.

I do have the opinion that most coatings, most of the time, are a waste of time and money.