lifter valley paint or polish

[toolbox]

Which is best? What kind of paint is used in the lifter valley?
Thanks

[Ed-vancedEngines]

I used to polish them to look like chrome almost way back in the days. I also painted them with the Glyptol Paints. I think that I read too many magazines.

Now, I don't waste my time doing any of that, and I have no problems with any of them. I do things to help with drain back though to the heads and in some instancs to blocks. Somehow an engine block valley wall at a slope with a rough surface just does not restrict or prevent any oil from draining. Try it yourself. Slowly pour oil on the top of the lifter valley wall and see if it stops flowing or if it will still drain to the bottom.

Ed

[PackardV8]

Greetings, All,

I was around back in the day when this idea was developed. And, like so many other good ideas, it got out of hand and got misconstrued. Others might have seen it come around differently, but this is how I remember it. The original use was never about oil drainback. The block castings of the and early 60s had lots of rough edges which on rare occasions broke off and got into the oil. The remedy was to take a grinder to the block, smooth and radius all the thin edges and enlarge the oil drainback paths so there were no thin sections to break off. Then, someone got the idea there might be sand, grinding dust or whatever embedded in the cast iron pores which might later come out under heat or vibration. This is when the painting of lifter valleys and crankcases began. It was to seal the pores, not shed oil.

thnx, jv.

thnx, jv.

[Cobra]

Casting sand is common on some blocks and can eat up an engine in a heartbeat. Unknown to many is the fact that water passages often have large fins which can affect cooling. Back in the day, we used to Kolene heads. The older and more work frugal I become, the less pretty paint in valleys is important! Remember, keep your remote close and your beer closer!

[EngineTech1]

Painting or polishing is a waste of time. There are a lot more important things to worry about when building an engine than making sure your lifter valley is polished or painted. There is no benefit to either procedure unless you have a totally garbage block which has casting inclusions or stress risers. Maybe there would be some benefit to smoothing out the inclusions or stress risers but if you are building a race engine from a block that crappy then that's your problem and you are asking for trouble anyway.

[toolbox]

We are trying to stay close (not to close ) to what the rules say for my class. So most of my power and reliability is going to come from the machine work and elbow grease. These replies really helped me understand why nobody could tell me what kind of paint to use. I am beginning to think that the experts did not even really know why it was used.
Thanks

[Ed-vancedEngines]

The paint that was used was called Glyptol and was made by GE for Electric Motor Windings. There may have been others but that was what I used. If you do decide to paint be sure to thoroughly clean with Lacquer Thinner or Acetone to remove all oily residue. Pioneer makes a Graphite Paint that I do use on Iron Blocks and heads to help them to look better.

You can tell us what your rule requirements are in a different new thread and you will be surprised at the informed experienced answers you will get.

Ed

[toolbox]

Thank you, I am going to post a new thread and see if anybody sees anything wrong.

[rebelyell]

fwiw ... it's actually glyptAL with an A.

I still use 1201 & 1201A after block is baked & blasted; then hosed w/ lacquer thinner. But it's also true I'm still crazy.
Last I bought off shelf at local GE Supply which has changed name to GEXPRO.
Insides of alum cases of many many old Harley OE motors were coated w/ red glyptal from factory.

http://www.glyptal.com/glyptal_products.html

[mt-engines]

fwiw ... it's actually glyptAL with an A.

I still use 1201 & 1201A after block is baked & blasted; then hosed w/ lacquer thinner. But it's also true I'm still crazy.
Last I bought off shelf at local GE Supply which has changed name to GEXPRO.
Insides of alum cases of many many old Harley OE motors were coated w/ red glyptal from factory.

http://www.glyptal.com/glyptal_products.html

Or for $8 a quart you can use Rustoleum oil based red.

[Schurkey]

Paint you don't apply to the inside of the engine, can't flake off and plug the oil pickup screen.

[Walter R. Malik]

Which is best? What kind of paint is used in the lifter valley?
Thanks

Polish or paint it but, NOT both. Don't use paint if running alcohol.

For paint, I use "Glyptal" electric motor armature paint by GE but, any epoxy type paint is probably fine to get a smooth oil return surface.

[Dan Timberlake]

Here is some fairly modern info about whys and wherefores about painting the insides of machinery cast and fabricated housing:
I was looking at this just yesterday because we re providing some replacement cast iron covers for bearings with circulating oil lubrication. Assembly drawings from the 50s and 60s say "paint" the inside surfaces. In the 60s and 70s we get specific (and even created a Standard) about cleaning the surfaces to be painted with 1,1,1-trichloroethane (out of production for decades) and painting the surfaces with some fairly standard white enamel (also now out of production at last by product name).

Premium lubrication outfit Kluber - their concern is compatibility of their various gear oils with gear case interior paint/coatings.
https://www.klueber.com/ecomaXL/files/P ... r_oils.pdf
Gearbox manufacturers paint the gearbox both on the outside and inside to offer corrosion protection during
storage and transportation. Furthermore, sand particles from the gearbox casting process are bound by the
inside paint to prevent possible damage of the gear teeth or bearings.
Their conservative evaluations are:
Single component paint last 5 years +/- in the fairly cool, gently splashing environment of an average gearbox.
Two component products ( epoxy?) are WAY better.

Well known industrial gearbox mfr Horsburg-Scott talks about storage oils and, again, compatibility with gear case interior paint/coatings
H-S's standard housing internal paint is a petty basic single component "paint." (Sherwin-Williams Kem-Aqua #70P)

[ProPower engines]

I just polish. It gets the sand out of the surface and it stops any potential issues from paint coming off a non polished surface. The Glyptal paint does not always stay put for ever. I had an issue after a freshen years ago and the jet wash loosened it causing the oberg to plug and never did it again,
JMO

[rcull]

I usually use a thermal cleaning system, and despite a thorough post blasting cleaning, for at least my own stuff, I like to paint with Glyptal. I figure it seals the surface and any particulates that could loosen up. I always do it first, before any machining so the surface is free of oil contaminants. From then on in the machining and assembly process, cleaning is easy on the smoothed surface.

Its also pretty, sexy maybe...!