Y' know that magic coating Wren used?
 

I got it on my valve covers now. No pics yet...I was busy trying to diagnose, er, something else :roll:

BUT...I will say this...

That stuff works. Just on the hand testing, I coated one with the stuff, the other I left uncoated. Followed the suggested baking cycle for the paint, and afterwards I placed both under my "sun in a box" worklight. The uncoated cover was warm. Coated? Much cooler.

Keep in mind I have those aluminum F-body covers. Originally they were bead-blasted and painted wth high-temp clear. Got sick of looking at them with yellowed-clear, so I soaked them, sanded, washed, and painted.

They look good too.

Now imagine it with constant airflow over it. That's why I'm keeping my SC cooling duct. The hood vents and fan override make it even better.

WCBF bred a few believers. Matt was STUNNED at how quickly my SC cooled down compared to all others, in spite of the fact that I was spinning it harder and faster than anyone else.

All SC's were about the same temp when we hit the pits, but mine cooled down nearly TWICE as fast.

It works. My original test posted wasn't with two seperate parts, and I never tested it with air flow over it. Just static cooling at ambient temps, and it still out-performed the other coatings and bare aluminum.

Attachment 36659
Aluminum valve covers on the left, OEM fiberglass on the right (testing for coating wrinkle only).

Don't do this to OEM valve covers though. The fiberglass insulates, and no coating in the world will overcome that. It's purely cosmetic on those. Follow my recipe in the other topic to the letter to get consistent results and good, fine, dense wrinkle patterns. It's the amount of wrinkles that makes it work.

Brad, post up some pics of yours. Did my recipe work well for you?

Well enough. The uniformity isn't as good as I was aiming for, but only under heavy scrutiny would someone be able to spot that.

To aid in adhesion, I "primed" with a few light coats of Krylon BBQ grill paint. That was the only difference to your recipe. Unknown whether it will harm or hurt (I will run the front cover on the SSE for the time being as a test), but it isn't like this can't be done again. Aircraft stripper works absolute wonders, esp. on aluminum ;)

Doesn't do jack squat to supercharger coatings though.

Attachment 36653

Attachment 36654

Attachment 36655

For a first time application, it didn't come out too bad at all ;)

Looks damn good.

I may very well recoat it when I get a few extra minutes in my day. It came out well enough to leave them alone, but I would like at least another coat or two on them.

Good work. I'm definitely going to take a crack at this on my ported gen3 housing.

Magic coating? No offense but it looks the same as a $5 can of Krylon wrinkle which has been used on valve covers since the '60s. Am I missing something? Hard to clean too.
Grant

The difference is that I proved it's effectiveness for use on superchargers last year. For the simple reason that we already knew the vast majority of coatings out there are bad for performance.

For the record, I've never seen it used on car parts before this except for part of a motorcycle cylinder head once. And that was after I had been testing it for over a year.

I chose the coating simply based on physical science and well-thought theory. Not based on other's experiences.

Looks great! Even if it didn't do anything for heat transfer, it's worth it just for looks!

Here's a little history behind it:
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=74148


But apparently I just copied a buncha guys who painted their valvecovers, then made all that up to cover my ass. ;)

So Bill, is this in fact the Krylon Wrinkle black?

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=90826

The primary difference between these topics and a buncha guys who have apparently used it on valve covers (which I've searched for and can't find) is that I took the time to actually:

1. Investigate it further when I found it had been used for electronics cooling in tube amplifiers years ago.

2. Test it analytically on a part that actually means something to us.

3. Test it long-term to prove that my kitchen testing was valid and it would hold up to abuse.

4. Develop a known recipe that works, and is repeatable for the desired finish to be reproduced by everyone for the desired cooling effect.

(Yes, I get a little bent when someone makes light of something I've put a lot of work into, but in fairness, he probably didn't know the history behind it all).

And for the record, no. It's not hard to clean at all. Haro also ran this on his TB during the time I ran it on the SC.

Something else people should look at.

Where I work, we have nice, high-powered halogen worklights. Same type I have at my house actually. One key difference though...the ones I got at my local auto parts store are finished in red enamel, and didn't cost alot. The ones here at work cost about double what I paid....but are finished in wrinkle coat. And I imagine they run cooler than what I have in my garage.

The old Chrysler 426 Hemi also used wrinkle coat valve covers. Imagine the heat THAT monstrosity creates.

Google search "applications for wrinkle paint". It's more than just for looks.

Whoa, calm down. I am not saying it doesn't work. My hobby is Mustang restoration and many of the old aluminum FE valve covers were the exact same coating, that is all. Many aftermarket valve covers have the same coating. I am glad it is working for everyone. As for the cleaning I still say it is more difficult. Many parts of my 4-wheeler were wrinkle finished and they were far more difficult to clean than a smooth surface.
Grant
EDIT: Here is a pic of some Mustang valve covers. Proabably 50% of the valve covers on the market are finished in wrinkle. A lesser number of stock were also wrinkle finished. I stripped the wrinkle off of mine just because it is so common.
http://www.powdercoatingit.com/Cobracover22.JPG

B2, Wren and I used the Krylon wrinkle finish. Wrens tested his pretty extensively and seems to hold well, but I did find other coatings are available. VHT seems to make a good coating that is not only heat resistant, but also comes in several colors. Have you had any experience using that, or any coating other than the Krylon? And if so, what would you recommend?

Nobody here is getting excited. I know I'm not. I do like the look the krinkle finish gives, and the heat dissipation is a definate plus for us forced induced types. But if you have any info in regards to these coatings, that would better help us figure out which coatings would be best suited for the application.

Krylon is extremely heat resistant. AT least by my testing so far (over a year). Full boost heats that SC up pretty quick in temps of 100F+.