Painting my engine?

[arkracing]

Originally Posted by 4x4Poet

Careful. Many V8 street engines need the oil to drain slowly for more cooling of the oil before it reaches the pan. The oil draining down may add to lub needs, too. Race engines can have paint or gyptol-induced, slippery lifter valleys since they have monster cooling systems and don't care about wear & tear on parts that will be replaced soon and don't have 100k+ engine longevity concerns. At least, make necessary mods to allow for fast oil drainback.

On performance engines, lifter valley sludge is most often cause when someone thought a thermostat that opens at a lower temp than oem would make the engine run cooler. The resulting lengthier warmup times kept the oil cool longer, thus enabling sludge buildup. Many short driving sessions that don't bring the engine to operating temp can also aggravate the situation. Too thick viscosity oil for ambient temps can also cause or aggravate sludge build up. Oil change intervals, oil filter quality, oil quality, air filter quality, blowby levels, PCV condition, and any entry ways for dirt into the engine all potentially play a role in sludge buildup. I doubt that unpainted lifter valleys ever cause sludge buildup solely from being unpainted.

x2
Not neccessary to paint the inside of a street engine, the quicker drain back of oil will actually hurt a street motor more than help it.
-take a walk around the pits of a drag race and see the motors torn apart - granted they are aluminum blocks but they don't paint the insides

[Dean23]

I stripped my block down to bare metal with aircraft paint stripper than wahsed with a varsol aprayer and the soapy wate. The i primed it and use gm engine enamel orange. I think it looks great with the blasted and clearcoated serp setup

[4x4Poet]

That engine does look great, Dean.

[Dean23]

Thanks...I miss that beauty I sold it to a buddies friend for his 65 chevelle. Now I'm gonna build a crazy bigblock

[4x4Poet]

Originally Posted by Dean23

I miss that beauty I sold it to a buddies friend for his 65 chevelle....

Definately a good cause.