<VV> PART II CERAMIC COATINGS

[Brandes, Guy]

Here is the balance of yesterday's post, sorry for the split.
 
Regards,
 
Guy Brandes
 
65  VAIR 140
 
Hearkening back to that SPORT AVIATION article, I decided that I was
going to spend the money (!) and make this the most reliable 140 PG I
could.
 
PG's are pretty tough (doing reverse drops at 60 MPH and standing on the
gas will convince anyone- at least until the torque converter shreds
itself- but even that takes a surprisingly long time!), so I didn't
think I needed to do anything with that. 
 
 Four spider gears in the diff?  DONE.
 
Now it was time for the engine.  I looked around for a powder coating
shop in the area that had experience with engine coatings.  Here, I was
helped by a co-worker who was into drag racing (Mo-Par powered rails-
well, to each his own), and he directed me to an outfit in Oak Lawn, IL
called Lo-Ko Coatings.  
 
I spoke to John at Lo-Ko, and he told me the motorcycle racers
(air-cooled) were reporting head temp reductions of up to 100F with the
coatings.
 
The only problem now was getting the head work done in conjunction with
the coating process.  He steered me to a machinist who had done aircraft
engines with ceramics, only to discover that the guy was a former Chevy
mechanic, and did all of Claypool's crankshaft work!  Small world,
indeed.
 
Bob (the machinist) informed me that using ceramics would reduce heat
soak into the heads, but the combustion temps would increase by about
30%, so everything downstream should be coated, as well- exhaust valves,
exhaust ports, exhaust stacks (tubes), he even recommended coating the
manifolds.  He said the faces of the intake valves should be coated to
prevent hot spots that might cause pre-ignition, the exhaust valves
would burn without protection on the backsides, and the pistons would
melt through if subjected to these higher temps, so they had to be
coated, too.  I had already decided on that.
 
I had Bob replace all the seats and guides, so I was starting with an
essentially new set of heads (I didn't want to replace a dropped seat
after all of this!), and then I brought the heads back to Lo-Ko.
 
I had the combustion chambers coated, the intake valve faces, both sides
of the exhaust valves, the stacks were done with "Jet-Hot" the silvery
ceramic often used on headers, and the manifolds (logs) got "Jet-Hot"
also.  Interestingly, I noticed that the valve seats and valve seating
surfaces were also coated, but Bob didn't seem to mind- apparently he
either ground away the surface coating during the valve job, or he just
lapped them in (I forgot to ask, but there was no evidence of removed
coating).
 
BTW, I used all new valves and springs (Pricey? Remember, a happy wife
is golden, an unhappy wife... well, never mind.)
 
I assembled the motor, installed it in the car, and turned the job of
getting it started over to Claypool after I broke my collarbone and
separated my shoulder while dirt-biking with my son in San Diego.  (Long
story deleted here)
 
            Many months (and dollars) later, the '69 had a new paint
job, a new top, a new interior (a'69 interior done in '65 light blue
from Clark's) just in time to drive to the Ventura CA CORSA convention
(2008).  The wife couldn't get the time off work to drive out with me,
so I was solo, traveling with fellow Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiast (and
former president) Jerry Berger, in his own '67 Monza convert.
 
One of the benefits of the coating, I was told, was a reduction in
octane requirement, because of the lack of hot spots.  Because I was
pulling a small trailer, I opted to use midrange gas (89 octane) and see
how it acted.
 
We took the southern route (old US 66), and the car ran great- no
pinging at all- until we entered the Arizona desert south of Quartzite.
With ambient temps about 115F, we got stopped at a Border Patrol
checkpoint, and, as we were leaving with VERY light throttle (GOD! It
was HOT!), the engine started to ping ferociously when it shifted into
drive.  I immediately dropped it into low gear, and accelerated up to
about 50 MPH before I let it back into top gear- with no further
complaints from the motor.
 
Shortly, we got onto Interstate 8 ("the eight" as the locals call it)
and climbed out of Imperial Valley through the mountains towards San
Diego (home of the aforementioned son).  
 
This stretch of interstate has to be the steepest and tightest turning
in the whole Eisenhower System.  Cars were going by in the left lane at
80+, while the semis were in the right doing 25!  Not having much of a
option, I dropped it into low and drove about 15 miles that way.  
 
Ears ringing, I stopped for gas at a place called Pine Valley, and paid
$5.06 per gallon for premium. 
 
Old Guy's Note: I still remember how pissed I was when I first put more
than $5 TOTAL to fill the tank in my first Corvair!
 
The cars ran great the rest of the way into San Diego (traffic was
better, the elevation was higher, the ambient was cooler, and there was
more downhill) and aside from blowing a vacuum modulator coming in (yes,
that's a Powerglide part) we made it without incident.
 
A few days later, after picking up the wife at the airport in San Diego,
we left for Ventura.  The car ran fine (albeit with a tank of premium)
and we arrived without incident.
 
I entered the car in the econorun (improved gas mileage was one of the
side benefits I was hoping for- a 30% increase in temp means a 30%
increase in combustion pressure, according to Boyle's law, therefore I
was hoping to use about 30% less throttle to maintain speed.  Well,
that's the theory.)
 
The upshot was, I won the automatic class of the econorun, getting 29.88
MPG.  Of course I did all the max mileage stuff, pumping the tires to 45
PSI, bumping up the timing till it hurt, and coasting downhill sans
engine power whenever possible, but I still think it did pretty good for
a motor that was broken in on the trip out.
 
On the trip back home, the car developed a problem with a misfire that
occurs during the transition between steady throttle and acceleration-
making it impossible to maintain a constant speed going up an incline.
I am still unable to resolve this problem  (I'm about ready to give up
and turn it over to Claypool) but I have no reason to think it is
related to the coatings.  All I know is that it's killing my mileage,
now.
 
All in all, I am glad I had the work done.  I spent about $400 for the
coatings; the head work was significantly more.  I have tried running
this 140 with regular (87 octane) and it doesn't complain, but it
sometimes "diesels" a bit when I shut it off, so I went back to
mid-grade.  I'll reserve premium for econoruns.
 
Kirk Parro
Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiasts