[Vwdiesel] Head treatment for economy

[Mark Shepherd]

Since my posting re head-chamber lagging; I've been pointed
to the following site:
http://www.techlinecoatings.com/introduction.html

At first glance it looked very promising with their thermal
barrier coatings but on closer inspection their graphs of
power improvement don't look very spectacular at all; in
fact the one graph actually shows power losses for all rpms
except @4000 and 8000rpm which is not exactly diesel
operating regions. There is no hard data and it doesn't give
figures for thickness of the 'enamel' for the test. Only
tucked away was the comment of a maximum thickness of  15
thou, else integrity may be compromised...
What is needed is a thermal conductivity figure.

Here is an interesting snippet:

"By coating the combustion chamber, we reduce the amount of
heat that escapes during the power stroke which means more
of the heat generated is utilized in "pushing" the piston
down. The coating also insulates the surfaces so that they
absorb less heat, reducing the load on the cooling system
and reducing the amount of dimensional change the head may
see from the heat it absorbs. The coating functions in
several ways: (1) To keep heat in (Thermal Barrier) (2) To
move heat over the surface to reduce hot spots (Radiation)
(3) Reflect heat into "cooler" or shrouded areas of the
chamber (Convection)"

This is hinting at my aim but...

Mark(The Miser)UK



...or the start of a science thread...
I had this thought:-
The diesel is more efficient than the gasser, yet it still
losses 30% or so power to the coolant.
What if we could reduce this loss?
Can I assume that although the block is water cooled most
heat is lost through the head because this is when the fuel
is ignited within the confines of the swirl chamber and a
few mm of cylinder cavity and so the greatest temperature
differential occurs...
What if this 'pocket' was insulated?
Well there would be less heat loss through the head, and the
heated chamber would be hotter but the head would be cooler
and less likely to warp(maybe)...
If the chamber is hotter then the gasses are higher pressure
and create more thrust and so more power.
Melt down of piston?
 Coat the piston head also...
If there is more power then we can get back to the same
pre-treatment power by injecting less fuel which would then
return hot gases back to their initial temperatures...
I know that there are some threads somewhere on chamber
coatings; but I'm not sure of where they are or what the
reason was for doing it (protection purposes maybe  or
airflow).
 Mark(The Miser)UK