Line2Line coating

[1972ho]

Any of you ever had this coating used to build up your piston skirts to have your bore inlarged using this product.There claim is that once the skirt has been worn in to the cylinder wall that it will not come off.

[lowriderglen]

I have used this on numerous projects both stock and performance and have had excellent results. The coating can be built up as much as .015". They also offer a piston crown coating that works very well. Brian Neal does my coating work.

[Bryant538z]

Have used it on a few turbo LS engines with great results. Less piston rock, better rings seal, less friction, increase piston and bore life, and they wear in beautifully.

[groberts101]

Have used it on a few turbo LS engines with great results. Less piston rock, better rings seal, less friction, increase piston and bore life, and they wear in beautifully.

I sure hope you guys are right about this stuff since my pistons get shipped out next week!

[Bryant538z]

You will be very pleased with the results!

[digger]

Personally I don't like the idea of having stuff that abrades away getting into the oil.

Would be nice to see independent before abnd after pics of a few engines (different applications ) with a lot of miles on it to see what's left over

[Momus]

Have used it on a few turbo LS engines with great results. Less piston rock, better rings seal, less friction, increase piston and bore life, and they wear in beautifully.

Any photos before and after of your pistons Bryant?

[midnightbluS10]

Personally I don't like the idea of having stuff that abrades away getting into the oil.

Would be nice to see independent before abnd after pics of a few engines (different applications ) with a lot of miles on it to see what's left over

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume there haven't been any issues with the coating. They've been using it since 2009 and I've never heard of anyone having catastrophic failure due to the coating specifically.

There's been discussion here previously

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31751

From Andy Suman, president of Line2line coatings:

Hi MGRoadracer and 427Z06,
Thanks for the discussion. Answers:

Break-in Particles- The coating is plastic and soft minerals which are used in some break-in lubes- much softer than any metal component. It runs in chain saws to Pro Mods to Nascar engines, and users have never observed any evidence of coagulation or any ill effects of the soft, tiny break-in particles. Even though the coating composition is soft, it holds up long term because it improves the oil film stability to prevent parts from touching...

Leak Down & Compression Durability - check http://www.line2linecoatings.com/testimonials.html for comments by elite racers in many different engines. Summary - Leak down and compression are measurably better AFTER extended duty cycle.

Different Bore Sizes in Engine - Thank You MGroadracer for the question. This is where abradable powder coating really helps. In multicylinder engines, each bore is different from the next when you figure in machining, stack-ups, assembly torques, thermal distortions, and operating stress. The problem is sets of pistons are made the same. When one hole requires a clearance or profile change, why should all the rest suffer? Abradable Powder Coating addresses all these small errors. APC insures that each and every piston becomes the best possible mate for its unique bore. It frees up power and durability by fine tuning each power cylinder.

Best Regards, Andy

And here are mgroadracer's thoughts on the matter, which is who Mr. Suman was responding to.

I was curious about this too...so I did some searching on their site.

Looking at the thickness/wear data at http://www.line2linecoatings.com/techgeneral.html it appears more of the abradable material stayed on the part than the other coatings. With some of the ridges I've seen in the bores of the A-series motors I've disassembled for conversion into full prep production motors, I'd imagine that cylinder wear and normal break in particles from the metal/alloy components (walls, etc) would be much more voluminous than the coating material, and if the particles are too small to be caught by a good quality filter, likely not something I'd worry about. The largest amount of material loss I saw on the chart was 30 microns, and certainly not all at once.

I'm interested in the "self-machining" aspect. I've got a coolant inlet on the front of an inline 4; and cylinder 4 gets much warmer than cylinder 1, expanding more. I've got the burned, blown out-at-the-back, head gaskets to prove it. Solved that with an aluminum radiator from VW and some fabrication work (radiator supports out, cooling system re-plumbed; it never lines up at first, but that's half the fun), but I'm betting that cylinder 4 is still hotter and has less clearance than cylinder 1 when at temp!

[groberts101]

I've been promised the world and ripped off just as much as many others.. so I figure the proof is in the pudding when it comes to this kind of stuff. If it works even close to what they say then I'll use it in my "good motor" later on. Will be interesting to see how it holds up on my 2618 pistons over the next 2 years when this motor eventually comes back out.

[ALKYAL]

I have used this service with Alky fueled SBC Sprint Engines and BBC Fuel Injected SuperModifieds During the last 3 Yrs. Works as advertised. Also a 21 Cu In Single Cyl. OHV engine on 35 % Nitro/ alky mix. Worked Well here also.

[BradH]

Has anyone had this coating applied to pistons in an engine that was previously "broke in" w/o necessarily having it re-honed along w/ adding the coating?

[1972ho]

The one thing that I was told that this and other coating will come off if radiator fluid ever contacts it so if you have a cylinder that has a small crack the coating is history.

[BLstangin]

We just did it on a restricted circle track motor to tighten up the pistons after a year of racing, motor made no noise and bested the previous years Dyno results and leaks down 0-2% with a gap style ring, upon first oil change didn’t see anything funny in the oil and the motor won the first race it was in. I guess time will tell when it comes apart for a freshen but it’s looking good so far. I definitely don’t think it was a step backwards.

[1972ho]

Any of you guys that have waited to take take your engine apart to see how the coating held up it’s over 3 years now so do you care to comment now.

[fabr]

I'd be interested as well.