Looking for feedback from the engine builders.

Just reading the big coatings article in the latest issue of Race Tech magazine and they were talking about how a lot of Nascar teams use this ****.

Has anyone used it, and torn the motor down later to check bearing wear? Did it seem to make a difference?

Not sure if they make bearing for Honda or not....

 

DonF? I know you're out there

 

I have not used Calico, but coatings do work. I have had bearing's , pistons, rods, oil pumps, pans, heads, gears, diffs, etc. coated with different polymers, most work. I do stock some coated Honda bearings. T-Bone does a nice job on pistons.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DonF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have not used Calico, but coatings do work. I have had bearing's , pistons, rods, oil pumps, pans, heads, gears, diffs, etc. coated with different polymers, most work. I do stock some coated Honda bearings. T-Bone does a nice job on pistons. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah I'm curious as to how this works. the article is talking about CT-1 coated bearings showing almost no wear after very long periods of use (3 seasons on drag motors, 2 seasons on circle track motors).

I tend to dismiss stuff like this too easily sometimes, but hearing that the Nascar guys are using it makes me think there must be something to it.

Might try to get a set for my next build. Assuming they make Honda applications...

 

Coatings are one the latest frontiers bneing explored in all top forms of racing everything from F1 to drag to RR stuff. There are great benefits to coating but the questions is at what cost? Sure I could probably DLC coat all applicable parts in an engine and pick up 5 hp but at the cost of what 10k? However the calico coatings and the simpler things are something to be looked into

 

here you go some usefull information.
http://www.calicocoatings.com/..._tips

 

Coatings are not new. Polymer-dynamics did bearings, pistons, rods, cranks, pans oil pumps, headers, etc in 1985. They did my FormulaAlantic headers with the sme stuff they did Darell Waltrips,Jr.Johnson Daytona car. There have been advancement's in the last 20 years, but unless is is a serious racer, they are not going to pay for it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DonF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Coatings are not new. Polymer-dynamics did bearings, pistons, rods, cranks, pans oil pumps, headers, etc in 1985. They did my FormulaAlantic headers with the sme stuff they did Darell Waltrips,Jr.Johnson Daytona car. There have been advancement's in the last 20 years, but unless is is a serious racer, they are not going to pay for it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What i was trying to get at yeah things have been coated even before this but as of recent it seems to be the new big deal in race engine technology

 

I've been doing it in-house at our 98% domestic only machine shop for over 2 years now. Holds up great in 7 second NA dragsters.

The ONLY application I have seen it fail was in a tractor puller's tri-sequential turbo'd 549ci International tractor that had a boost spike to about 250psi.

It was kind of hard to tell what went first from all the carnage. I swear by coatings. If I ever get enough money/time I'll build a mild ls/vtec or gsr motor and dyno/track test it then strip it down and coat everything then dyno again.... The hardest part about it is when to stop coating parts lol.

I know that in nascar alone over 60% of teams are running fully coated engines.