Forged pistons, silicon content and sidewall clearance

[Rick Frey]

At 06:58 AM 8/5/2003 -0500, Jay Stewart wrote:

> >3.  Hi Tech coatings can dramatically reduce the amount of heat absorbed by
>the piston.

>Everyone tells me this. I have disassembled a couple of high dollar motors
>with these fancy coatings, and the coating was flaking off severely or
>starting to in all cases. I wonder how well this stuff really holds up and
>if it is worth all of the time and effort? Granted my sample is small, but I
>know of others who have found the same. This wasn't a mom and pop job
>either.

As it seems to me, the dogma on this list has been that swain coatings are
the real deal and all others fall short.

However, if the real world doesn't support such faith, then it would be
nice to get everyone spending their dollars on upgrades that work and last.

It would really disheartening to spend bucks on a coating with the specific
purpose to prevent expansion of a forged piston and run really tight
tolerance, only to find it flaking off and causing problems as the piston
begins to expand more than the design thought it would.

Does anyone else have real world experience with coatings w/ some miles on
them that'd be willing to report their observations and name names of the
coating supplier?  Who's not mom and pop?  ;)

This list has taught me a lot but I don't have blind faith,

rick frey