gstein

I have it down to the block, (944S) and my main goal is to increase reliability and longevity of my engine, not power.

Has anyone had first-hand experience with ceramic coatings(i.e. Swain) on internal parts? I have read posts on this, all seem supportive, but are quite vague.
Is this worth my time? It seems almost too good to be true, being so inexpensive.
Or, is there a more professional route to take?

Any suggestions on further improvements would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Ben Goldstein

Geo

I have used Swain several times. They are the only coater I would use. They are the best in the industry and Dan Swain is a pioneer in the business. Dan Swain started Heany industries and his first coating was Heanium back in the mid-seventies. He was racing a NASCAR style modified back then to promote Heanium.

Are they worth it? Yeah, I think so. I don't know of any dyno testing to prove one thing or another, but pro racers use coatings where they are legal.

I have used their piston coatings (thermal barrier and anti-friction), their exhaust coating (White Lightning) and their Black Body Emitting coating. I will probably have my brake calipers coated with the BBE coating and will certainly have my header coated with White Lightning. No other coatings are legal in my class.

White Lightning is not a pretty coating. It's rough and it's white. But it's also paintable. It's also the most effective thermal barrier coating on the market. Most coatings are simply ceramic paint. You'll see ads talking about that temperature they are good for. Big deal. What you want is a thermal barrier. My turbo G20 had White Lightning on the exhaust manifold, the turbine housing, and the J-pipe. The under-hood temps were lower after hard driving than when the car was NA with a conventionally coated header. The White Lightning really works and works well. I'm confident the rest of their coatings are equally effective although it's hard to measure without back to back dyno testing.

Call Swain Tech. The folks there are really nice. I've been to Swain Tech several times as well as talking with them on the phone. They are good folks. They also have the best turn-around in the business. Oh yeah, they also make their own coatings unlike almost all the others in the industry who buy off-the-shelf coatings from others. Dan Swain is a ceramics engineer.

IMB951

I had my headers done for a relatively cheap price ($120) and they polished them up so they look stainless. I'm very pleased with it as it accents the engine much better and keeps the underhood temps down a little. I haven't tested the actual temps under there before/ after but I'm sure it's doing something significant.

dgz924s

On our pistons will the coating interfere with special coating Porsche uses on the cylinders? I can see valves getting coated but what about the pistons? What other internals would benefit?
TIA

Geo

I talked with Dan Swain about coating aftermarket pistons with his anti-friction coating. He said he does it for Mercedes and BMW guys (with their Nikasil bores). He thinks it would work for our cars, but I'm not going to tell someone to do it. In theory it should work though, although if anything caused the coating to scrape off a bit that could be disasterous. I've also thought about getting some aftermarket pistons and seeing if he could come up with a factory type coating since that is the only one that would be legal for me. I know this doesn't answer your question. The answer is, I think it would work, but you'd have to talk with Dan. He's an engineer and I'm just a monkey.

What other coatings? Well besides the anti-friction coating for the pistons, coating the crowns with a thermal barrier will help keep heat out of the engine and in the exhaust where you want it. Same with coating the valve faces and combustion chambers. You can get anti-friction coatings for the bearings. Jon Milledge gets this done wherever it's legal to do so. You can also get oil shedding coatings for things like the crankshaft (not the journals of course) to help reduce windage and to keep oil dropping back down to the pan.

Look through Swain Tech's site. Check out the price list. That will show all their services.

OriginalSterm

I just had a downpipe and crossover pipe done up at Swain. Took a little over a week because I told them I was not in a rush. Total cost was $250. Have not installed the parts yet to identify any gains/benefits. But i've heard nothing but good stuff about them and their products.