TOPIC:

The Cerakote arrived from Oregon USA. I had a choice of either 4 ounces or 16 ounces and I thought 4 might not be enough. Looking at the 16 ounce bottle, I now think I have enough for 4 sets of liners. We'll see.

 

LOL, the bottle is bigger than one of the cylinders.

It will be interesting to see how the liners look after coating.  The guy on YouTube channel Superbike Surgery uses Ceracoat on some engine covers, and it looks great. A very thin coating, I believe. Probably not ideal for crankcases though - it might not clean up very well after getting coated in road grime.

It's been a process. Cerakote E100 requires that the surface be prepped with 100 grit aluminum oxide sandblasting, so that was done in my tabletop sandblast cabinet at 45 psi.
 
Next, I needed to spray the Cerakote with an HVLP touch up gun which I bought from Amazon for $57 CDN and it came witha full sized HVLP gun and a pressure reducer. Bonus!! Set up the gun with 25 psi and adjusted the HVLP gun for the recommended pattern.
 
I thought maybe a mini spray booth would help so I grabbed a cardboard box and punched a hole in the back side to take the hose from my 30 gallon shop vac and set it up on my Black and Decker work mate. I also picked up a cheap Lazy Susan turntable so I could rotate the sleeves as I sprayed. Worked out really well.
 


Next, the Cerakote needs to be baked out in an oven at 300F for one hour. I picked up a used convection toaster oven from Kijiji for $15. Not trusting the temperature setting on the thermostat, I used an oven temp checker to set the oven for 300F

 

Happy with the end result. Looks really nice, so we'll see how they insert back into the cylinder block.
 

As a final note- I mixed up 72 cc of Cerakote to coat all 6 cylinder sleeves thinking that I might runout but I ended up throwing out about 30 cc's. This stuff goes a long ways!!

From my ignorance on the subject of ceramic coating.

Could it be an improvement to paint with a brush by hand the part that I indicate with red arrows?

Only that part is the one in contact with the coolant, having a thicker layer of Ceracote would have better protection against corrosion and could dissipate heat better.

 

Kawboy, you are a genius at process organization and improvisation. The liners are perfectly coated. Thanks for sharing the details with such high quality photos.

kawaBCN wrote:

From my ignorance on the subject of ceramic coating.

Could it be an improvement to paint with a brush by hand the part that I indicate with red arrows?

Only that part is the one in contact with the coolant, having a thicker layer of Ceracote would have better protection against corrosion and could dissipate heat better.

 

If we were having this conversation 20 - 30 years ago, I probably would have agreed with you that better coating performance could be achieved with a "thicker coating", 20 years ago you would have put 3 coats of carnauba wax on your car to protect the paint, but today you can get a 4 ounce bottle of ceramic sealant to do a whole car and it will protect the paint for more than an entire year. The advancements in technology are incredible.

One of my main concerns was that most ceramic coatings are low heat emissivity (low ability to transfer heat or maybe better put a good insulator. This E100 Cerakote was designed for high emissivity (a good conductor of heat) and was primarily designed as a replacement coating for firearms. It also gives excellent protection for the sliding mechanisms of the firearms reducing the wear of the components.

I've copied the technical data sheet for this product and then added a few notes of my own in the data in Blue text.



Product Technical Data:
Recommended Cure Schedule
Ambient Flash 15 Minutes, Oven Cure 1 Hour @ 300°F
Recommended Mil Thickness (mil)
.75  (.00075" thick)
Strainer Size (mesh)
325 (Part # SE-277)  *also referred to as a 44 micron strainer. So the particle size of the ceramic in the paint is less than 44 millionth of an inch square. The strainer screen is so fine you can't see the holes in it. I picked up a 325 mesh screen and a 100 mesh screen from Amazon for $57 CDN. I'll need the 100 mesh screen when I ceramic coat the top of the pistons.
Gloss Level / Unit(GU)
Eggshell / 12
Density (g/mL)
1.51
% Solids (±2%)
53
Viscosity (cP)
66  This E100 is thin like the old wood stain. Thin like water and yet it's 53% solids.
Theoretical Coverage per gal @ Recommended Mil Thickness (ft²)
1143  I've always found that whenever |I paint something, I never get the coverage that is suggested. That being said, I mixed up double what I thought I had to cover and ended up throwing half of it out.
Coating Stability (°F) Max. Temp.
500+
Color Stability (°F) Max Temp
500+
Chemical Resistance
Excellent
UV Stability
Excellent
Corrosion Resistance (Hrs) ASTM B117
4000+  This is one of the reasons I choose this product. The testing is to leave a test sample wetted and exposed to air until rust appears. Nothing comes close to this number.
Pencil Hardness Gouge ASTM D3363
9H
Pencil Hardness Scratch ASTM D3363
8H
Crosscut Adhesion ASTM D3359
5B
Flexibility (% Resistance) Conical Mandrel Bend ASTM D522
100
Impact Performance Direct/Indirect (in-lbs.) ASTM D2794
160/160All results based on blasted steel coated at recommended mil thickness using recommended cure schedule.*Gloss levels are measured at a 60° angle. Adjustments to recommended conditions will yield different results. Gloss is affected by quality of preparation and spray technique. Results are based on coated blasted steel cured following the Cure Schedule specification.**Viscosity measured under ambient conditions (air temperature, relative humidity) at the time of manufacture.¶Recommended Cure Temperature:

• Please reference the Cure Schedule specification available on each Cerakote product.

Maximum Temperature is the temperature to which the color or coating is stable.‡Chemical Resistance Testing: Results refer to color change based on CIE76 formulation. Results range from:

• Excellent: ∆E change of <2.5
• Good: ∆E change of <3.0
• Fair: ∆E change of <3.5
• Poor: ∆E change of <4.0

†Testing parameters are as follows:

• Hardness or Pencil Hardness Tests are measured from softest to hardest as follows: 9B, 8B, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H. 9H is the hardest.
• SG-100 ONLY: Hardness test Method A — An X-cut is made through the film to the substrate, pressure-sensitive tape is applied over the cut and then removed, and adhesion is assessed qualitatively on a 0 to 5 scale.
• Adhesion is measured on a scale of 0B, 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, with 5B being the highest achievable rating.
• Flexibility or Conical Mandrel Bend: “100% Resistance” is the highest achievable rating and indicates that the coating did not crack or spall.
• Impact Performance (Direct/Indirect) is measured on a scale of 0 inch-lbs. to 160 inch-lbs., with 160 inch-lbs. being the highest achievable rating.

All Cerakote coatings are VOC compliant under the EPA and have low to no VOC content. To find out the VOC content of an individual coating, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.This information is accurate to the best of our knowledge, however, it shall not constitute a guarantee for any specific product features and shall not establish a legally valid contractual relationship. We recommend that you perform adequate tests in your facility to determine if this product meets all of your requirements.Please feel free to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us at 1-866-774-7628 if you have any questions.