Ceramic Coating intake

[turbomangt]

Funny thing happened to me when I was at a car show, I met an expert mechanic that works on hot rods. We got talking about my Turbo Cruiser and while he was looking under my hood started to mention some things that made sense to me. He said one of the best things I can do for performance for my turbo is to ceramic coat the exhaust manifold, intake tubes and the top side of the turbo charger. He said the ceramic coating will reduce heat exhaust (keeping the engine bay cooler) and will focus on keeping the heat where it belongs, inside the turbo. Keeping the heat inside will increase performance. Plus it looks cool. any comments on this from the gear heads? [8D]

[lip]

I am the farthest thing from an expert, but I think this makes no sense at all...you do not want heat to be insulated inside the turbo...this will definitely shorten the lifespan of the turbo IMHO.
If anything, trying to radiate the heat away would be better (ie, installing cooling fins, not practical but you know what I mean).
My two cents.
LIP

[AlmondTurbo]

LIP is correct. When you are heavy on the gas, (high boost), the exhaust manifold of your engine as well as the 'hot section' of your turbo may be red hot. No ceramic coating can withstand that heat. I witnessed this during a demonstration at Garrett/AirRearch turbocharger test facility 20 years ago. A Saab turbo engine was running an endurance test at 4,000 rpm, with an undetermined load on the engine. The exhaust manifold, hot section of the turbo, and 18 inches of the exhaust pipe were glowing cherry red. I try not to think of this when 'getting on' my turbo-lite. Jaguar used to use a ceramic coating on their exhaust headers, until catalytic converters raised exhaust tempratures so high it caused 'spider-web' cracking of the coating. 30 years as a jet engine mechanic (military fighters) gives me some insight into stuff that runs hot. Darrell

[turbomangt]

That's why I posted here, wanted your advice. I will do more research on this. Gary

[quicksilverdon]

While not disputing the preceding posts, I would think the intake would be a good candidate so as not to pick up engine bay heat to intake air.

[Cal Cruzer]

quote:Originally posted by quicksilverdon

While not disputing the preceding posts, I would think the intake would be a good candidate so as not to pick up engine bay heat to intake air.

The reason that they coat exhaust manifolds is to keep the heat in. Velocity is lost as the exhaust charge cools. A side benefit to this is that less heat is exhchanged into the engine bay. Since a byproduct of compressing air is heat generation, I think it would make sense that the same applies to this. The downside of course is that we want a cooler charge (via the intercooler) to enter the intake so it would seem to conflict with the retainded heat theory of the ceramic coating. I don't know if you could just do the exhuast side of the turbo and achieve any worthwhile benefit, espeically given the very low potential return vs the cost and hours of this job. If you were an all-out racer and wanted to experiment, it might be interesting. But for the weekend warrior I wouldn't waste my time/money.

[turbomangt]

Cal, thanks for posting, appreciate your wisdom, I want to do more research on this topic to be honest this guy really knows his stuff. I might even get him to post here when I see him next week. Hard for me to translate info I know nothing about. Maybe we all can learn something new. Gary

[Sci-Fi]

If you plan on ceramic coating your exhaust, coat the internal as well as the external surfaces plus do your intake manifold too. Also, you want to know which coating to use. Some are rated for over 2500°F, while standard coatings are only good for 1300°F. Figure about $200-345 (plus $50 for cleaning, sand blasting, etc) depending on the shop and coating for both intake and exhaust manifolds. Read this article:

http://www.customclassictrucks.com/t...137_0312_cerm/

[turbomangt]

SCI-FI, MAN DO I LOVE IT WHEN YOU CHECK IT! For the others here not sure about this topic here is a small paste form the article Sci-Fi posted. It really gives you a great overview. I guess my hot rod mechanic was right, I suggest reading the whole article/ really informative. Gary [^]
Ceramic coatings of engine internal and external components will increase torque and horsepower by reducing friction, increasing lubrication, reducing part temperature, increasing combustion chamber efficiency, reducing detonation, oxidizing fuel more efficiently, shedding carbon, and keeping heat in the combustion chamber and exhaust system.

[quicksilverdon]

There are actually experimental engines where the block and heads are made entirely of ceramics - for those reasons.