Ceramic Coating

[Lextreme II]

Got a set of 4.7L Forged Pistons and did the little home ceramic coating on them for thermo-protection. The coating came out pretty. I tried to do the dry film lubrication on the side skirt and it didnt came out too well. The dry film didnt adhere well to the side skirt. I am not sure why and I would like to find out too. I was instruction to use 120 grit aluminum oxide at 40 psi to sand blast the coating area. Afterward the pistons we clean with acetone. The pistons didnt came out like the pros but it was interesting to DIY. I think Ross charge $250 for a set for thermo coating. Here are some pictures. Before and after top piston ceramic coating.

NOTE: The first two pictures are after sand blasted. The last two pictures are after ceramic coating.

 

[cjsupra90]

I've tried Dry Film on ceramic and although it is said to adhere, I have never had any luck with it either... I had a set of pistons from a SBC that were thermal coated and had dry filmed side skirts from the manufacture that were damaged and there was no thermal coating below the top ring.
I dont know what manufacture the pistons were from but the were was told that they were Keith Black units. I have seen this from other manufactures too so my guess it that the dry film will not adhere to the ceramic... Beside, there really isn't a need to thermal coat below the top ring anyways. The head of the pistor is what gets the hottest. The side skirts dont get nearly as hot as the head does..

 

[cribbj]

I've used PolyDyn here in Houston to dry film coat the skirts of my pistons for first the 2JZ and then my first 1UZ motor and I also had the crowns heat shielded, and had no adhesion problems with the dry film. The two processes were done separately, however, so the dry film wasn't trying to adhere to the heat shield.

When we tore the 1UZ motor down after it lifted its head gaskets, the dry film coating was worn down, but you could see where it had burnished itself into the pistons and cylinder walls.

I don't know how that affected the bedding in of the piston rings, but that build of the motor resulted in very good compression, and we had no blowby or break in problems with the rings.

I'm a big believer in both the dry film (oil shed) and moly (oil cling) coatings, and wouldn't build a motor without them now.