BrutalGTA

iTrader: (2)

I've gone back and seen some old threads and wanted to see some current opinions from who's coated inside the engine with Glyptal or Tremclad.

I'm looking at coating the valley and heads on a LS3. Do they require grinding like a gen1 sbc?

Have you noticed less sludge?
How has it affected your oil pressure?
Is there anything you would have done different?

I also seen a thread where someone added a screen to prevent broken pieces from traveling internally.
I've never heard of this before, but has some great logic behind it. Anyone chime in on this?

cosmick

Lots of these engines are past 1000 HP with no oiling problems, lots of 500 HP builds use nothing more than a ported oil pump. There are no problems with oil drainback even at a sustained 7000 RPM, so why worry?

BrutalGTA

iTrader: (2)

I was thinking about longevity. Help prevent sludge deposits etc.
I know thousands of people run LS without any coating, just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with using it. There is bound to be some Kind benefit to using it on a LSX motor.

zraffz

I've never used any of that stuff but I'd be skeptical of any sort of "paint" not adhering properly and pushing through my entire motor in little tiny pieces, eventually clogging the pickup screen.

I have taken apart a few LS motors and never thought they were prone to sludge until this last one I am working on. I've removed every bit of 3lbs worth of sludge from the heads, intake valley and oil pan. It has a 6 month warranty so I am not bothering to check the bearings or disassemble it any further but I did remove as much sludge as I could and flushed it all with brake parts cleaner. It will get a ATF/oil flush once it's in the truck though.

BrutalGTA

iTrader: (2)

I've never used it personally, however it seems to be an old hotrodder trick.
I've seen people use tremclad as well as Glyptal. Here's a link: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=Glyptal

People have been putting it on there Sbc's for decades without problems.

Vader

Incidentally, the current form of Glyptal is NOT the same as the original form of GE's Glyptal enamel. It used to be a good dielectric for stator and field coil repairs. Now it is basically a cosmetic touch-up. Guys who were doing thin in the '50s, '60s and '70s had the real material. It is no longer available.

Also consider that oils are much better than ever before.

jharrison5

I would think that with the better oils being produced that as long as the engine has proper maintenance being done you would never have to worry about sludge.

BrutalGTA

iTrader: (2)

I think it's pretty inevitable. Unless you change your oil early.. religiously.!!
Prolly depends upon your oil choice too. I remember as a kid I worked at Quik Kar and we served pennsoil off the pump. We had a large group of return customers who would bring in theirs cars for oil changes and they'd sit in the lobby for hours chatting. I swear that the people who always came in had the dirtiest oil fills. You could see the sludge in there!
But who knows!

What about the tremclad? Anyone used it?

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

With today's oils non of that is needed. If you are going to do anything then spend the time to debur and polish the valley and what not. But really unless it's a max effort engine looking for the last 0.05 HP out of it, then I don't think it's going to make much difference in anything really.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Exactly... Glyptal was actually a product LINE, not a PRODUCT... all of GE's motor/transformer varnish had that name.

Back in the 70s I worked for a distributor of motor rewinding supplies. We carried bearings by the thousands, 55-gallon drums of magnet wire, varnish, oils and greases, insulation sheets and tubing and whatnot, really heavy-duty high-temp motor lead wire, and ... varnishes. From A BUNCH of manufacturers, including GE "Glyptal" products. A whole shelf of various things with the "Glyptal" brand name. Most of em were that rust-red color you see in old electric motors.

Some one of the hot-rodder books mentioned it, and it was instantly enshrined in hot-rodder mythology and lore. Even back then, people would walk up to our will-call counter (we didn't have a "store", we sold to manufacturers and big rewinders like Delco Anderson and TVESCO) and ask for "Glyptal" without having any real idea what it was, and of course we all knew INSTANTLY what they were trying to do with it, especially since they wouldn't have the vaguest idea of WHICH "Glyptal" product they wanted. We actually carried some other stuff that worked ALOT better; most of the GE product was thin and meant to not thermally insulate the parts (allow good cooling), but for some other purposes we had an epoxy varnish that would go on thick and shiny. That stuff worked AHELLUVALOT better inside a block than any of the "Glyptal" substances.

Anyway, there's no reason not to paint the inside of the block with something durable and heavy-duty to promote oil drainback. No particular reason it has to be "Glyptal". Regular modern engine enamel works as good as "Glyptal", maybe even better. (kinda like the specs for rifle grease for WW2 rifles; people ask "does this [product] meet MIL spec yadda yadda yadda?" without realizing that all that archaic outdated obsolete spec is, is for water washout resistance, and EVERY automotive grease on the market today is AT LEAST 10 TIMES BETTER than that 75-yr-old spec) But aluminum isn't as rough as cast iron to begin with and therefore doesn't trap oil as much, and doesn't have as much chemical affinity for it as iron does, so the degree of benefit paint provides is correspondingly FAR less.

Wanna do some actual GOOD, have it ceramic coated in there.