Hey guys, I was just thinking, copper has better thermal conductivity than aluminum so if you take a surface with poor thermal conductivity which gets hot and plate it with copper it should act as a heat sink to the part.

I already have a small cobalt plating setup I use to increase the longevity of certain piston engine parts. I can easily get a small copper plating setup from my supplier and copper plate the inside webbing of my rotors to help keep them cooler.

I may even try doing the cooling passages inside my irons or the spark plug side of my rotor housings although I don't like the initial idea of exposing copper to engine coolant.

What do you guys think?

(Please don't even bother posting about the risks of flaking.)

 

Err... never mind, after talking to a buddy of mine who works at a place that makes copper seals for various applications it seems that the sulfer in engine oil would react with the copper and engine coolant wouldn't be too nice to it either. There doesn't seem to be any "cheap" plating processes to be used over it or instead of it that wouldn't defeat the purpose.

 

No, I think copper would work just fine for plating the rotors.

An old engine or a race engine has the stat gear bearings clearanced all the way out to the copper bearing shell and it does just fine with the motor oil.

 

Hmm... looks like I'll have to experiment with it a bit. Time to go Lowes and get some copper tubing and some empty cans. Will have to wait another 1,000 miles before I pull the oil out of my truck for the experiment though, lol.

 

Shhh.... Don't give away all the secrets! People still believe that bearings actually make contact, need to break in, and are ruined if you see copper. They also don't understand clearancing them as that wears them down. Don't tell anyone anything to the contrary!

 

Just like my dad always said, bearings aren't bad until you need gear oil to maintain oil pressure.