[s-cars] Consensus on Painting/Coating EM???

[MLP]

You might want to consider making some kind of distinction between the
extent to which a coating is intended for cosmetic or some other purposes or
a compromise between the two.  What are you trying to do?  Add "bling-bling"
to the engine bay or actually insulate something.  If your insulating it,
why?

You may want to do some careful reading (for example) on the Swain Tech
website, just as one example, or a search for information on thermal barrier
coatings.  There's a bunch of stuff on the internet about how some of this
stuff was originally developed for early jet and rocket motors that were
melting engine parts.  

What I can tell you is that the Swain stuff looks, and even more obviously
"feels" very different than, for example Cody's jet-hot treated exhaust
manifold.  It has an abrasive feel to it, very much like sandpaper.  I
believe it comes in only one "color", sort of a white-ish grey, probably
because that's (painting) not its principal purpose.  I'm told Swain thinks
the stuff is an effective enough thermal barrier, that it can be painted in
any color you like with a high temperature paint - but I don't think Swain
offers any guarantees about how long colored paint applied over their
barrier coating will retain its original color.      

As for consensus on value, .... YMMV.  Swain claims their barrier coating
substantially affects heat transfer.  I'm not sure what claims JetHot makes
in this regard, or if JetHot, and others offering similar services, see
their coating as serving more of "paint" function, i.e. protecting surface
from oxidation etc. and provide a more cosmetic appearance, or as a part of
a thermal heat transfer process.  

There are some drag racers out there who claim the thermal barrier coatings
can/will keep more heat in their system; that heat, or so the argument seems
to go, represents more energy; and therefore if the coating is applied in
such a way to trap the heat in the motor system ahead of the turbocharger,
you theoretically get more power out of your boost.  There's some in the nay
sayers camp that natter along about heat locked in a heavy cast exhaust
manifold "soaking" back into the head/turbo bearing housings etc. and on a
long term basis, slow cooking parts that shouldn't be cooked.  Coating +/-'s
sometimes get mixed up in the discussion with thermal wraps/tape.

HTH

mike    

> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list On Behalf Of Fifield, Douglas
> 
> Not to open a can of worms, but is there any consensus on the 
> value of coating/painting an EM before installing?  Same 
> question on the turbo while it's out.
> 
> Douglas in MN
> 95.5 //S6Avant - mine
> 98 Mercury Mountaineer - her work sled
> 98 Toyota RAV4 - for sale
> 73 BMW R60/5 - lonely in the garage
>