Next year i´ll pull the engine out of my Fiat Coupé 2400, to do some serious work to the gearbox and engine. As one of my friends can do glassblasting and another friend powdercoats for a living, i just might shine up a few parts of the alucasings. But if i do, what about the heattransfer ? Does the coat inhibit the heattransfer ? Clear powdercoat looks great on glassblasted alu, and it´s very easy to keep clean. Here´s a picture of my smallest V-engine with clear/black powdercoat on the righthandside cover over the flywheel/starterassembly. Looks great, but the heattransfer is not an issue on this casing. But it might be on the Dinoengine... And what about the Cromodora magnesiumwheels - has anybody tried to give them the same treat ? Items to be powdercoated will be baked at almost 200 degrees C ! And my Cromodoras are not willing to be guineapigs... Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Dino is a water-cooled engine and most of the heat-transfer occurs on the inside. I would expect any differences after powder coating would be negligible. The magnesium wheels are another story. There have been threads devoted to this (Search). Both the blasting and the heat cycling can be a problem. I would recommend doing some additional research before proceeding there.
powder coating the motor parts will make no difference, I have done Harley motors which are air cooled and its pretty commonly done with no issues. The issue with powder coating the wheels is a highly charged debate amongst coaters, many (most?) say its great and some say its dangerous. The issue is that powder "may" hide some cracks as they develop and you may not see the cracks under the powder. I have coated wheels and not worried about it but some coaters says its not safe. Lets just say I have not powdered any wheels of mine (you can guess where I stand on that issue now).
I powder coated my stock Dino wheels. Then I stripped and painted them. The difficulty with powder is that it is very thick. You will lose all detail of raised letters (Dino, Cromodora, etc.). I preferred the look of paint, albeit, the powder coating on a wheel is more durable. If you plan on taking your Dino off-road, or deep-forest rallying, then by all means, powder coat. Jim S.
I´ll stick to do some engineparts then, as i won´t challenge the fragile composite of the wheels. Merry christmas and a happy new year from Denmark ;-) Best Erik
