Alum.Ceramic Oil Pan for keeping Cool?

[LameHoof65]

I am sure this has been discussed somewhere, but today I am getting my valve cover and timing chain cover alum.ceramic coated. The guy at Airborn a business here in OKC says it's close to a chrome like finish but it cools or dissipates heat....So would this be a good thing for an oil pan? If it is I think the price is more than right....$20.00 for timing chaincover, $40.00 for the valve cover and I am assuming the oil pain would be about the same as the valve cover......I know that chrome isn't a good choice for the oil pan...Let me know what you think.

P.S. Im sorry, I have to make a correction: it wasn't Airborn who gave me the advice of how it cools, but another Co. here in OKC that I talked to when looking for the best price..., Airborn actually gave me a great price though...altogether it was $55.00. at about 30 dollars cheaper than the other place.

 

[StrangeRanger]

Sounds like a very bad idea to me. The ceramic coating is going to act as an insulator and it will increase, not decrease your oil temps.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree, any additional layer is going to add material that the heat has to transport through in order to dissipate. Now if you want to dissipate the heat slightly better, you could paint it black.

 

[AzCoupe]

I agree too. Ceramic is going to hold heat, like chrome, only more so. Black paint is best. Look on any coating or pan manufacturer website, they never recommend coating the outside of the pan.

If you want to do something, see if they can coat the inside of the pan with a oil shed coating, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

 

[LameHoof65]

Glad I asked..Any specific type of coating best or just a black paint?

 

[StrangeRanger]

Do not paint the outside black if you're looking to promote coling via paint color. Black absorbs heat, you want to reject heat. In the real world the paint color is probably irrelevant. you're not running that close to the edge thermally with any streetable engine.

FWIW Grumpy Jenkins used to paint the interior surfaces of his engines black and the outsides white. IIRC the paint he used was Glyptol (sp?) or some such. If you don't mind being mistaken for a C***y, you could try that

 

[Lazy JW]

In general, materials that conduct electricity well also conduct heat well. Ceramic is well known for its insulating properties. Try grinding a steel bolt while holding it in your bare fingers, then try grinding a brass bolt the same way Don't ask how I learned this (many years ago)
Joe

 

[LameHoof65]

I probably wouldn't have even listened to the guy, if I had been thinking--- of course black absorbs heat and white or light colored things tend to reflect it....But when you think about it you really should be somewhat interested in reflecting the heat away....while at the same time dissipating the heat internally...and to do that you have to cut down on internal friction and possibly wrap your exhaust and a cool color may have a minimal effect of reflecting the heat if it is not so insulating that it keeps the heat in internally, right? I don't think black is the color for the pan either, but I do like black...how about a nice cool metal gray?

 

[gotta61comet]

I'm not an engineer or anything close to that.
But the color of the paint shouldn't matter unter the hood.
I may be way off track here, but color absorbs / reflects light.
White reflects all (actually, most) of the frequencies the of visible light.
Black is the opposite, and absorbs. The light being absorbed converts to heat. Like a car on a sunny day..
I imagine the only way to cool under the car, like an oil pan, it by running cooling fins on the pan or an oil cooler.

Please feel free to correct me here... physics is not my strong point

Jim

 

[LameHoof65]

I'm probably making a bigger production of it than is necessary and will probably end up painting it black anyhooo! By the way nice COMET...

 

[simon]

black and white color are easily distinguished and completely different in visible light, but share almost identical properties in infrared radiation.
polished surfaces and gray color have the worst heat dissipating qualities (compared to black and white)

manufacturers of electronic components once used to black anodize aluminum dissipators, but save costs nowadays on anodizing. In the real world, you rarely get any advantage out of that, unless you´re dealing with direct sunlight radiation.

Indeed, Grumpy Jenkins´ idea is based on Planck´s Law of Radiation and Law of Black Body Radiation; though finned valve covers and finned oil pan would definitely show a greater thermal effect.

 

[LameHoof65]

Well then Black it is, ain't no way I am painting the oil pan white. Thanks Simon---I knew someone here would have the definitive on this.

 

[gotta61comet]

Simon,
Thanks for the correction. I was a 'C' student in physics, and now you know why.

Darwin,
Thanks for the compliment on the Comet.. It looks better in the picture than in real life.

Jim