Team Fireball Posted December 9, 2003 Report Share Posted December 9, 2003 I saw in the image forum a guy that polished his engine, and it is one sick engine. It is absolutely with out a doubt the best looking engine. But what I don't understand is, will the engine not overheat, and how do they polish the engine, I don't understand... the engine's casing has a rough texture on the outside, so how do they get it so smooth and shiny, and wont the engine overheat????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raxen Posted December 9, 2003 Report Share Posted December 9, 2003 IT takes alot of work to polish the case 30-70 HRS since it is a very porous casting. There are several stages of polishing with the good old Dremel and flexshaft. The engine does not overheat remember it is watercooled not aircooled. The heat is transfer to the coolant and dissipated through the radiator not the skin of the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayFressh Posted December 10, 2003 Report Share Posted December 10, 2003 I think our friend here is referring to chrome on an air cooled engine, polishing is just a cosmetic finish to the surface not a plating or coating. Fireball hit the target with his heat explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantzer Posted December 11, 2003 Report Share Posted December 11, 2003 Actually smoothing the surface reduces overall surface area and won't allow it to cool quite as well. Also, polished/reflective surfaces tend to magnify the heat and will result in some heat soak. I don't think it's enough to worry about though. I'm in a delima whether it's worth it to polish everything up and have to maintain it and not ride in the dirt, or just bead blast it and play everywhere without worrying about it. tough call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raxen Posted December 13, 2003 Report Share Posted December 13, 2003 How does smoothing the reduce the overall surface area enough to make a difference heat conduction through the surface. It seems like the surface area would stay pretty much constant assuming you case doesn't look like george forman from the factory (factory erro) Most of the engine's heat is dissapatied in the cylinders and heads where the heat transfer takes place through combustion. The heat is transferred to the coolant by conduction through the small metal thickness that lies between the water passages and heated region. It then goes to the radiator where it is dissapatied to the surroudings by natural convection. I don't see where polishing an external surface where heat accumulation is negible can cause it not to cool as well. Aluminum is a great for its thermodynamic properties; Mostly its ability to dissipate heat. Explain it to me Jantzer. Where lies the error in my thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuff Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Agreed raxen, after taking thermodynamics and heat transfer, you reminded me alot of what I learned!! Polishing a water cooled engine will have no effect of the operating temperature. It does look badass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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