When I swapped in my new engine block, I painted the block black because I heard that the compounds in black paint facilitate better cooling. Has anyone else heard this? Just curious if I was fed a line of BS or not.

 

Black is the color that I'm going to paint my 388ci. Its the only color I'd paint a motor(helps hide oil leaks).

 

I've also heard painting the block black helps with cooling. I wouldnt enjoy the fun of tracking down a small oil leak though!

 

what i always heard and it makes sense

 

Good...I've got no worries then..

 

Couple of turbo-obsessed guys I know never paint their blocks because they say any form of paint hurts its ability to cool. Who knows, but when you're building 500HP 4-cylinder turbo motors maybe every little thing helps

 

At the shop I used to work for, we had these little vials of flourescent dye we poured into the motor oil. Then you just use a blacklight and shine it around different spots on the motor, and you could usually spot oil leaks very easy. Essentially the same method used to look for leaks in the a/c system.