Ceramic Coating Pistons

[silverkorn]

I am currently rebuilding my 90 GST engine with the stock pistons and rods, and i am thinking about getting the piston heads and maybe the crank and rods ceramic coated. i'm looking at doing the piston tops to allow for a more uniform heat transfer and the piston skirts as well as the rods and crank with a coating that will repell oil to allow for less rotational mass.

Now i have read through the article posted and done many searches and found a bunch of places that offer this service but my question is, is this really worth the extra money?

im rebuilding this engine with the thought of trying to stick to a small budget, but since everything is in pieces and i rather not rebuild it 5,000 miles later should i just invest in the stronger pistons and rods or will the ceramic coating be just as good?

as far as what im going to expect from this motor, im shooting for 11's with a base weight of about 2000lbs

 

[4g64GST]

You should not have a problem if you use the 1g big rods but i would use a .20 over pistons just to be safe. that way there is no wear still in the block to mess up your new rings.

 

[silverkorn]

well the cylinder walls are in good condition when i tore it down, still have to take some readings to see how far within spec they are of each other. but i had the intention of getting the block honematched to basically bring it as close to blue printing as i can without over boring and having to get new pistons

 

[pneumo]

Coating the crank and rods sounds like a lot of hassle for the gains given your goal of 11's @ 2000 pounds. Stock internals will be able to handle that power level reliably. If you're really worried about oil sticking to the crank and rods just take some coarse emery cloth and smooth out the casting roughness. It should save a few grams, too instead of adding a few grams of ceramic coating.

 

[silverkorn]

yea i forgot about the added rotational weight from the coating, i wasnt too concerned with the rods and crankshaft to begin with. i mean if i really want to eliminate the oil slopping around i would just sump pump it and not worry about it.

 

[silverkorn]

anyone else?

 

[Brian Nutter]

Stock dsm pistons can handle a fair amount of abuse, but I've seen quite a few broken ones in my line of work. The coatings are a nice touch, some of our Pro customers use them, but they will not help in the case of detonation (what gets most pistons anyway). They do help a piston survive a bit longer in lean conditions, but I'm talking another 200 feet at wide open throttle if your injectors/pump have a bad day.--Keep in mind your ultimate plan for the car and decide if taking it apart again some day is worth it if you want to make serious horsepower. -Brian Nutter-Wiseco Piston Co.

 

[dsmrunaway1]

ok as ur asking if that ceramic coating is really worth it Let's say that if your combustion hits that "perfect" temperature dependent of a "perfect" A/F ratio, the piston possibly will roast. Ceramic coating reduces that chance to give you an extra margin of safety. Ceramic coating "moves" heat which decreases detonation and allows for better fuel oxidation. 89.00 dollars to do this process and honestly if u can take that lil note of safety jus by throwing in a lousy 89.00 dollars i would do it cause the money spent on most dsms now is a lot more then that

 

[Enigma_Man]

Well, I can understand getting the piston tops coated, but why the other stuff? From what I understand, the only benefit to ceramic coating is heat transfer. I didn't think it repelled oil or anything special like that.

-Jesse

 

[kpt4321]

There is a different coating that attracts oil. I will probably be using it on my gears when I rebuild my transmission.