Dry film lubricant on the cam and cam gears

When I take my cam in to get it DFL coated I am getting the cam bearing journals coated.

Should I get the lifter lobes coated? I am not sure here.

One part of me says that there needs to be friction on the lobes to wear in the foot of the lifters to the cam lobe properly.


Another part of me says that this is a major friction spot in the engine and I should try and reduce friction here.

I will also be ordering my double roller timing chain set.

Seems like it would also be a good idea to get the timing gears DFL and oil shedder coated? Seems this would be another place to reduce friction.

DFL=Dry Film Lubricant.

Thanks for any info.

I use micro-slick from NIC Industries on my timing gears and connection rods. Works really nice too.

I can sure appreciate all the technology your applying here, but the weak spot for wear on these engines is the bores themselves, no matter what rings you use the ridge on these american blocks show a ridge after only a few thousand miles because of the lack of nickel which the japs solved years ago, they never show a ridge, every 200 or 240-300 I ever tore down, that is where the most wear always is, so with that said and the known lack of nickel, is their a coating for pistons or the bores that can prevent this.

Not sure on the rings but I am getting piston skirts DFL coated and the piston tops thermal barrier coated. I am also getting combustion chamber and exhaust ports thermal barrier coated to keep the heat in the combustion process to keep pressure up.

Would cost more than I am willing to spend but could probably get the block sleeved with better cylinder bore materials.

The guy who built the engine on here and posted video, was it AP engines? He said he used low friction metric rings. Would low friction rings reduce cylinder wear?

I am not familiar enough to know what to mix with what so that the rings seat and are compatible with the coatings, sure sounds like you are doing a very carefull well thought out build though, the only thing I know about rings is moly, chrome and cast iron, I used chrome in my build, I'm sure thats got a can of worms in it somewhere. My machinist was going to charge me 80 dollars a pop for each hole to be sleeved and I thought about it and I figured if I put 50k on this bronco, I will be having alot of fun since it is just a toy.

Here is what I know about coating:
-there are several dry films out there, the best that I have seen for piston skirts is Calico coatings in Denver N.C. . Surface prep is everything, I've seen more than a few engines ruined because of imbedded glass bead in skirts that was coated over. You'll never know until the piston runs in the bores. Make sure your shop is reputable. Coated skirts are worth the money.

-Thermal coated pistons and chambers...... well I'm not sold on that. These coating live in a very harsh enviroment. They will eventually burn away, at least one person that makes a living selling this coating has told me that. It will last in a race engine because of the limited milage between rebuilds. After 1500-2000 miles, I feel like the advantage will be burned away. I'm not against these coatings, but if it were me I would definately look at my budget and make sure the money wouldn't be better spent somewhere else. It the budget is good, than go for it.

-Bearing coatings...YES! This is great insurance just in case of some type of oiling system issue.

-Wrist pin coating... DLC, Casidium or old school hard chrome. No dry film on wrist pins. Dry film is relitively thick (.001"-.002") and will eventually wear away. After wear, you will have excessive pin clearance.
The DLC and Casidium is a plasma coating and very thin (.00005") and does not normally wear away. If it does wear, it is not really measurable.
Hard Chrome can peel if the surface is not properly prepped before plating.

-I'm not sure about coating the cam or lifters. Dry film will wear away immediatly from the lifter foot and lobe. It may help upon initial start up and break in, but past 15 minutes of run time it will mostly be gone.

Just remember, there is a high profit margin in coating. there is a lot of opportunity for coaters to up sell and make really good money off of un-needed sevices. If you turn on the TV on Sunday afternoon, you will see the cars that I build engines for in my day job. My industry went through all of the coating craze and it seems we have settled on the few that always work. Bearings, skirts, DLC pins and lifters.

This is just my opinon....... there is nothing to be gained by me. Just what ever you do, no spray on film on those wrist pins. DLC or leave them alone.

AP, this is off topic and I don't want to get into discussion on this subject, I just want to know if you had your choice and cost was no object, which motor oil would you run in these old sixes.

Valvoline VR1 is easy to find and has zinc. I'm not sure on the ppm count.
Joe Gibbs also has a muscle car oil designed for flat tappets.
-Jeremy

This is not a coating, but comp cams offers a nitriding process for camshafts.

It gives the wear surface a thin .005" hardening to prevent mostly initial wear on camshaft lobes & the distributor drive gear.

I have had great success with nitrate hardening distributor gears to prevent scoring on these six cylinder engines.

The melling oil pumps are also part of the distributor wear problem with a lack of clearance on tip to tip clearance & also rotor to housing & rotor & drive gear to cap clearance.

The main problem is the lack of zinc additives in todays oils.

Valvoline racing oil & royal purple racing oils have the necessary additives to prevent scuffing.

Again comp cams has an additive which can be used with any oil to achieve the proper level of zinc & phosphorus to prevent flat lifter & distributor drive gear scuffing problems. Bill

I have already purchased a cam, the Classic Inlines 272deg and .450" lift and 110deg centers dialed in at 107deg. . Thats what was recommended for a turbo setup in my car.

I guess my point was that I know the cam lobes and the bottom of the lifter need to wear in together so I was thinking DFL on the cam lobes would be a bad idea.

The other part on me says this is a very high wear area and cams can be destroyed during break in if not lubricated properly.

I will still use on surfaces that ride in cam bearings.

I wouldn't recommend coating a flat tappet style cam or lifters. All the Comp Eliminator engines I do, have the pistons and rod and main bearings, valves and valve springs and other similar pieces like that coated. Even though these engines dont use the traditional style cam bearings you will be using, I would recommend that you have yours coated. Also all the transmission gears(Jericho or Liberty) and ring gear and pinions are also coated. I think the jury is still out as to whether some of the other types of coatings actually show any gains or benefits. In the early 90's, GM and Ford both, began to install metric rings in many of their V8 equipped vehicles, and what the life expectancy is and friction reduction is or was in comparison...I dont really know. As for racing, metric rings have been used for close to 20 years in Winston Cup engines, and seem to still be the "standard" for them today, so im sure they have advantages. The problem with a moly type ring in a forced induction application, is it is more sensitive to detenation and preignition, and will chip the moly coating off the rings very easily. All the big boosted and high dose nitrous engines i've done have seen great success and reliability with a stainless top ring, since it sees most of the knock load in those applications. Coating bearings and pistons skirts is very beneficial, and I would recommend you do it.