Tech Line Coatings

[Drewski]

My powder coater showed me some internal parts from his big block chevy he coated with some of Tech Lines coatings, just wondering if anyone has used it on their shee and had any power gains? Here's a vid explaining about some of the coatings Big builders are now using. Sure sounds interesting!

[MikeNick]

Very interesting.

[bugnut]

I coated the piston tops and domes with the ceramic coating. I tried the Dry Film Lubricant on the piston skirts and that wore off with about 5 min of idle time. With the new pistons I just coated the tops and domes. Then with the cyl walls I applied the PKSX POWERKOTE. Don't know if it gave me anymore power but knowing that it might take a little more heat before it gets to the pistons is worth it. I bought this stuff for my rabbit engine rebuild and had some left over and did a top end rebuild on the 421. Also figure that it might help with a lean issue if one every happened when trying to jet new carbs. The ceramic will take the heat first before hitting the aluminum.

 

I can't tell a power change because when I did the top end I changed out my 35's to 39's and put on some Shearer's from Cpi's.

[Snopczynski]

I had a ceramic coated piston in my rhino.

[jbooker82]

I tried to coat my own pistons with tech lines coatings. I couldn't get it to stick.The stuff they sell you and the stuff the pro's use are totaly different.

 

I run pistons and domes coated by swain tech. I have them put the ceramic thermal barier on the piston crowns and domes. The put their PC-9 moly coating on the skirts.

 

 

 

I didn't do it for the power, I did it of the reliability. I got pics of some pistons that were coated and the bore was to tight at the bottom.It locked up and slid the rear tires. I hurried up grabed the clutch, and snaped it a couple time to break it loose. I let it idle and with the radiator pointed in to the wind.

 

It ran fine after that. No compression lose, and was the same on both sides 180/180.

 

55 gallons of fuel later. I had to take the jugs off to replace a base gasket.

 

I will post pics tomarrow. The coating saved my cylinders from needing bored. It does work.

[camatv]

so let me get this straight.. at least you spent all the time and money to coat the pistons.. instead of getting a decent machinest that can bore cylinders correctelly... and not have them sieze? seems like a good trade off..

[shogs]

so let me get this straight.. at least you spent all the time and money to coat the pistons.. instead of getting a decent machinest that can bore cylinders correctelly... and not have them sieze? seems like a good trade off..

I don't think the coating makes it easier to run with a shitty bore/hone job. What the other guy was saying was it just so happened to stick on him once, but other than that its fine. He claimed that they make the pistons hold up longer. I don't know of many machinists, if any that aren't capable of doing a decent bore/hone job though.

 

Just FYI sieze is spelled seize, machinest is spelled machinist, and correctelly is spelled correctly. Spell checks the shit. Just fuckin with ya

[Snopczynski]

so let me get this straight.. at least you spent all the time and money to coat the pistons.. instead of getting a decent machinest that can bore cylinders correctelly... and not have them sieze? seems like a good trade off..

Someone always has to come in and be a dick for no reason. I dont think you properly understood what he was saying.

[jbooker82]

so let me get this straight.. at least you spent all the time and money to coat the pistons.. instead of getting a decent machinest that can bore cylinders correctelly... and not have them sieze? seems like a good trade off..

 

Yes I did spend the time and money to have the pistons coated.

 

The guy that did the bore and hone job knows what he is doing. He is a pretty respected guy that builds banshee engines. I am not going to name his name and thow him under the bus. I had the pistons coated after the cylinders were bored and honed. That is what swain tech recomended. The bore was a little tigh down on the bottom side of the cylinder, below the intake ports. I dont have a bore gauge to check the specs, but I used a feeler gauge. I could get the correct one inbetween the piston and cylinder, it was just a little tight. I didnt have a hone to fix it my self, so I though I would take it easy and see how it goes. I heat cycled it 5 times, then took it easy for a tank of fuel. On my second tank of fuel I warmed it up, and went out for some gravel rode riding. I opeaned it up and ran it through all 6 gears. Then let off the throttle. As the RPMs started coming down it locked up and slid the rear tires. I snaped the clutch to break it loose. I let it idle 5-10min and cool down with the radiator pointing in to the wind.

 

It ran fine after that. Never had another problem of it wanting to lock up. The compression never dropped. It stayed at 180/180.

 

55 gallons of fuel later.

 

I was trail riding and noticed that I started having a lingering Idle. It seemed lazy. I look down and see the side of the base gasket blown out. I had a cylinder that came loose and the crank case pressure blew the gasket out. I imediatly stoped and got towed back. It only ran like that for 2-3min tops.

 

I get home and pull the jug off to replace the gasket and found this. I took the other cylinder off and it had the same thing. It probably happend when it locked up on me.

 

[jbooker82]

Here is what the cylinders looked like. Just a tiny speck of aluminum transferd from the pistons to the cylinder wall. I just used a hone and cleaned it up. The bore was fine, still with in specification. I installed another set of pistons coated by swain tech. Who knows how long it would have kept running with those pistons if I didnt have to pull a cylinder to replace a base gasket. I had run 55 gallons (1 barel of race fuel) through the engine since break in.

 

[jbooker82]

Here is what the Pistons and Domes look like fresh from being coated. The coating on the skirts is pretty tough. It didnt scrape off when it locked up, it just smudged it.

 

I tried using Tech Line coatings to do my raptor piston my self. I couldnt get it to stick very good. The ceramic would bubble up on the piston head, and so would the dry film coating on the skirt. The stuff they sell to consumers is a water base. The stuff they sell to professional coaters is a solvent base. They wont sell you the solvent base. You have to get the coating applied super thin or it will bubble up. I was using a Passat VL air brush and still couldn't get it.

 

I have used there WSX try powder. That stuff is super slick. I dont know how long it lasts since you just rub it on and dont bake it.

 

Any way here are the pistons.

 

Coated Dome after being ran.

 

[jbooker82]

http://www.swaintech.com/

[Tech Line Coatings]

I know this thread is three years old, but  I wanted to add a few points. 

1. All of our piston top Coatings with the exception of one are water based. The one that isn't is a special blend that one of our customers uses.

2. If you ever have any issues with a coating not adhering, we want to hear from you and help you to get it working right.

 

In speaking with our R&D department, in certain applications the retail is better than the shop only version. 

[jbooker82]

The problem I had was the coating would bubble up after I baked it in the oven. I started out with a low temp setting and gradually increased the temps. I did apply the coatings with an air brush and cleaned the parts real good with acetone.

 

I dont have the coatings anymore. I hadnt used them in a few years so I tossed them. I do still have a small bottle of your WSX powder that I use. That stuff is a pretty cool dry powder lube.

[Tech Line Coatings]

Understood. If you need anymore PKSX (what WSX turned into) let us know. In reading how it was applied, you may have applied it too thick, most of our coatings are designed as a one coat and cure. 

 

Thanks

 

DM

If you decide to have your pistons redone, let me know and Ican get you in touch with a local applicator that can help out.