Welcome to Techlines... June 2006

Mark at Powder Barons

Middletown, DE

“I have a 1986 Quadracer 250, which I run at 32:1 mix, the motor was a disaster when I bought it, I went through two pistons in 2 days due to improper jetting and bad bearings and crank seals. I tore it down, replaced and checked everything, the motor is now reliable as any motor out there.

My normal tear down and top-end change was about 6 months time (about 20 hours), if I went any further it would collapse the top ring landing and seize. The last time, which was about 2 years ago, I coated the cylinder with WSX and the piston top with CBX and the skirts with DFL-1, it ran that way for 2 years straight, about 80 hours or more, and then it finally let loose.

The problem???? The cast cylinder backing plate in the cylinder snapped off and got sucked up the transfer ports and beat the top of the piston smashing the top ring landing. I sent the cylinder out to get bored and a new piston, but I got back a HONED, not bored cylinder and the same size just new piston to put back in it. All clearances were perfect!

The new piston and cylinder are getting the same treatment again, as are my customers.”

Temperature Measurement.

We quite frequently get calls from customers ho have used infrared guns to measure the temperature improvements on exhaust system components after coating. Generally the readings are very erratic and contradictory. Infrared guns read color more than temperature. A black color will read as though it is hotter than a lighter color, even when both surfaces are the same temperature. To establish the actual gains to be seen using advanced thermal barriers from Tech Line, direct physical probes or thermal couples should be used

Two examples.

On a turbo charged 4 cyl the infrared gun showed a surface temp of approximately 900F on the surface of the turbo after coating with Black satin. This was the same reading prior to coating. When a physical temperature probe was used to measure the part temperature, the actual temperature of the part was 489F. The tests were performed here at Tech Line on a customer’s vehicle.

In another test, coated and uncoated exhaust components were checked. The coated actually showed higher temperatures than the uncoated. When physical probes were used the reverse was seen and in fact the coated surface was nearly 200f cooler than the uncoated part. The parts at the time of measurement, uncoated were 410F, so we dropped the surface temperature nearly 50%. The coatings in this instance were MCX as a base and a top coat of Black Satin.

YOU Can Run With The BEST OR Run With The Rest™