is ceramic coating of pistons worth the effort?

what about doing only the piston tops and not the combustion chamber? I am getting a new set of pistons and can have them supplied with the ceramic coating... I would have to clean up and send out the heads to have them done..looking for forum wisdom.

I did it on my 3.0, no idea if it actually works.

I would do valve heads, piston tops, and the exhaust. The idea is to get the heat out of the head. The 951 used alucil to slave the piston, but they didn't use a thermal coating on the block. With the cylinder head of the 951 having ceramic liners it did increased the efficiency of the turbo, but did remove heat from the head also.

The engine builder for my Datsun says it’s a 10/10ths thing. He said only do it if you’re going for the championship or your budget is unlimited.
This makes 300HP where the original engine only made 150.

I have direct experience of it preventing damage and warpage to T4 heads.

In one particular extreme case a customer with data acquisition recorded sustained 1450*EGT's for a double weekend of vintage racing. It got so hot it eroded the exposed section of exhaust guides, which was why the customer sent me the heads to check out. Zero warpage or detonation damage and no loss of valve seal to the seats.

I've been recommending it for all of my bus customers for several years now.

I can't speak to power gains, but it does help prevent heat related damage to the heads.

Merry Christmas!

I've been running a set of T4 heads for a couple of months now that Len built for me. I had him ceramic coat them based on his recommendation. I know he's done a bunch for others here on the World. From my standpoint they run significantly cooler than anything else I've had.

Len is the man

Race engine or street engine pushing the known limits? Sure...



I did a lot of research before I determined my money was better spent elsewhere, like coated bearings, balancing the rotating assembly, and better valve materials... This was on a water cooled 1.8L motor that I built the motor to handle 600hp.......

@ConeDodger - tasty!

I've found ceramic and DFL don't adhere well to steel, they get a better bite into aluminum. Even with aluminum the ceramic doesn't like sharp corners like valve recesses etc.

On my 3.0 I used DFL on the skirts and bearings, I DFL coated my rocker pads, most of it wore off, but you can still see a bit in the "pores".
The ceramic coating I used on the piston tops and the head chambers and ports, it took me several tries till I got the process down pat.
BTW it isn't the same stuff as on ceramic headers, it's a very dull finish.

Hmm, if Len can do the coating, it might be the thing to do. Pistons are 6 weeks out anyway