maddox

Hi, thinking of getting my cam gears anodised. Can anyone advise what the material is that is used to anodise (harden the surface) of the aluminium gears?

FlyingDog

They are magnesium I think. Mr Lexse tried to have a shop do it, but they screwed up thinking it was aluminum and burned up a few.

Big Dave

Check with Andrew Olson. He sent a few gears out to a shop to have them re-coated, and the gears ended up getting melted because the vendor wasn't sure about the gear material. It CAN be done (I had mine done) but you need to make sure the stripping/coating is compatible with magnesium gears.

MrLexse

I gave up trying to find anyone who cared enough to do them right, so I do them myself.
Basically the gears (both aluminum/magnesium alloy or steel) are placed in an oven and heated to 400-500 degrees for an hour or so, to burn off absorbed oil etc. You're not supposed to use an oven that is used for food. Next, I blast with 120 grit alum oxide at 40-60 PSI. This removes any old coating and remaining surface contaminants. Gears are then sprayed with an air bruch or touch-up gun, at low pressure (for the gun) with a water based, dry film lubricant, DFL-1, sold by Techline Coatings http://www.techlinecoatings.com/Engine.htm
Next, it's back to the oven for an hour or two at 400 degrees. That's it. For technical questions about the coating or the process, contact the techs at Techline Coatings. They've gone out of their way to help me.

Scott M.

Lex;

By chance, got any pictures of the finished product for us to peruse??

Scott

MrLexse

Scott,
I sent you an Email with attachments, as I haven't figured out how to upload pics onto this forum. Whenever I've tried, I kept getting a message telling me the file size was too large (max is 200 KB , and mine are 800-1000KB, IIRC). I'll try adjusting the camera. If you can post them (if you get them), be my guest.

Scott M.

Lex;

I can't seem to open the zip file. I'll keep trying. Thanks.

I use Lview (shareware) to edit photos. Are you familiar with downloads.com? They have a few different shareware programs for photo editing.

S

maddox

Lex thanks for your informative response. Have you had a chance to retension your timing belt and check the wear properties of the DFL-1 on the cam gears?

AO

Sorry-
Wasn't paying attention when this thread came up... anyway, check this thread out regarding hard anodizing. Melted Camgears

I have not installed my DFL-1 coated gears yet. With the new car, plans changed a bit. Going to do a TB check pretty soon, and will replace if needed. BigDave is running this same stuff on his. PM him to see how his are holding up.