I contacted Stan Wilder of www.engineceramics.com to ask if he could coat rotors and rotor housings. He said housings aren't possible because the coating would get abraded off. Looks like JHB is still the only choice for housings. But for rotors, he had this to say:

"We coat only the rotors, and in that only the part without the apex seals.
Thermal coating CBC2 on combustion surface, TLTD on sides.
Price of the tri compression and two sides, $120.00 each.
We coat the end plates $90.00 each. TLTD
Exhaust manifolds $90.00, Long headers $160.00
Satin Black Header Coat."

CBC2 is a thermal coating, TLTD is a dry lubricant to be used on the rotor internals and babbitt bearings for improved oil retention and lubrication. He has coated rotors before, but does more piston/cylinder work for the Porsche and big block guys. He was unable to supply me with any further data quantifying durability or energy savings.

 

sounds good. will have to check that site out.

 

CBC2 will flake off in a rotary engine application, save your money. TLTD is of no value and give no gains in the applications mentioned. You might as well sprinkle holy water on your motor, sarcastic i know but this is true. Companies that dont know rotoraies are quick to sell you on application they know nothing about. Just a friendly caution.

 

looks like i'll just stick to polishing.

 

Thank you for the heads up. I honestly did not know that. Seems like thermal sprayed coatings are the only way to go for our application.

 

what about CBC1 or DFL1 or WSX? do you think the rotary will over take these formulas to?

 

I don't personally believe it's a good idea. Part of the job of a rotor is to pull heat out of the chamber by way of the oiling system. 1/3rd of the cooling of this engine is done by oil. Heat is transferred from the chamber, through each face of the rotor, into the oil jacketting. This is also why it's very, very important to do modifications to help your oil cooling capability. Having a layer of heat-insulating coating on the faces of the rotor as well as the oil jacketting seems to be a negative modification rather than a positive one.

Like everything else that's ever modified on the engine or the car, look at the "nuts and bolts" of it and analyze it's possible effects. Unfortunately, spending money on the car doesn't mean it's always well-spent. Sometimes we unwittingly spend money on an engine to give it a better chance of going bad.

B

 

True, but isint the idea of the thermal barrier coating is to keep the heat from heating the metal parts? So more of it goes out the exhaust? And also more of the energy is used to actually propel the rotor? So in theory you actually are reducing the load on the cooling system as a whole.

Absolutely, you have to take the "system" approach on any mod. Good advice.

 

Perhaps so, but it still doesn't sound like a good idea. Something about it bugs my "gut".

B

 

I do believe there are coatings out there for the chambers which would be safe and beneficial, but from personal experience the only coating I would trust would be DLC and I honestly don't see where you would want to run it in a rotary except maybe in the transmission.

A lot of the big race teams have found most engine coatings to be non-beneficial or flat out not worth the cost. Only coatings we run are DLC and Ti Nitride both of which can turn anything into gold but if it is not applied right and there is a defect, it can be as good as a grenade.

 

So, it seems like the only choice is JHB's Cermet coatings?

 

 

Any new thoughts on ceramic coating rotors these days for track applications? Seems to be some e-debate on this.

 

Mazda didn't coat the rotors for the 787b so I don't think it's necessary. They only coated the housings. I do see a benefit for having the housings done.