Welcome to Techlines: August 1999

HOT ROD MAGAZINE ARTICLE

An excellent article appeared in the September 1999 issue of Hot Rod magazine. This article covered a number of basic principles relating to engines. The article addressed 10 different questions commonly asked about engines and performance. Item #9 was, " How do coatings increase power?" The answer is very direct and accurate. If you do not get the magazine track one down as this favorable mention can help with sales of internal engine coatings. While TECH LINE is not mentioned by name, the writer Ray Bohacz is a long time customer of TECH LINE COATINGS, INC., and has used many of the coatings we produce. His reference, while generic, is based on experience with our coatings.

PERFORMANCE GAINS

MICROCOAT of Santa Rosa, Calif has been using our coatings for many years. The results he mentions below are typical of what can be expected.

"Come 1995, we started our coating business, and used our engine and exhaust system as a test facility to experiment with new types and formulas of Cermet and lubricant materials. It may sound fantastic, but by using coatings to their best advantage with our standard engine / drive train combination, we were able to increase performance by 2.5 tenths and 4 MPH ... and, reduce fuel consumption by HALF over previous years. " The car is a Super Comp Dragster, with a 481 cu. in. BB Chevy.

SOUTH AFRICA

TECH LINE has just opened a new Distributor in Africa, Sartor Bros. Engineering in Johannesburg. Sartor Bros. has been working with the coatings at a dealer level for the last year and has had excellent response from his market. One more distributor may be opened in this market in Cape Town later this year.

The racing activity in So. Africa covers a wide spectrum of activities and we hope to bring you performance reports as they become available.

MARKET ACTIVITY

As we prepare to enter the trade show season we like to look back and see how the market has grown since last year. The figures are very encouraging. Sales are up about 20% on a dollar basis and closer to 30% when the volume of coatings sold, are considered. More companies are able to take advantage of additional discounts available as their businesses are also growing. The summer months traditionally have been the slow point of the year with most sales between October and May. This year has shown a much lower drop in sales with only a minor variation between the busier months and the slower months. This July was up over 15% from last year and August is up nearly 70%.

This not only indicates that TECH LINE COATINGS, is doing well, but our customers are as well. The reports we are getting from most shops indicate that the summer drop has been smaller and sales are up. This tells us the market is still growing.

TEST RESULTS

Cross Flow Performance of Canada provides the following information.

In order to verify actual benefits gained from using the coatings Cross Flow set up a test using a 4 cyl. Twin cam, Subaru engine from a Rally Car. Only the piston skirts were coated. This was to see what friction reduction benefits were available and they did not want the combustion chamber benefits of CBC2 to confuse the issue. The results? Nearly a 7 H.P. gain at 7000RPM over the uncoated engine.

TEST EQUIPMENT

We have purchased a salt spray cabinet and should have it up and running by the end of the month. This will allow us to do advanced corrosion testing in house. This not only allows us to verify the performance of our coating systems, but more rapidly test possible improvements in formulation.

TECH LINE COATINGS, INC. WEB PAGE

As you may be aware we have maintained a web presence at Goracing.com. Currently we are having a new page constructed at TECHLINECOATINGS.COM and this site should be up and running shortly. It will contain our new catalog as soon as it is finished as well as additional information that will be updated on a regular basis.

We have been working with Brian Anderson of AndComp Technologies. If you would like help with a web page we will be happy to pass on his number as soon as he completes a move to Texas. More information is available at http://www.andcomp.com

Send questions or comments to the author: Leonard Warren

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