Ceramic Coating Aluminum Parts

Shoebox

Shoebox

Well-known member
About this time last year I picked up a pair of new Offy cylinder heads. I wanted to have them polished but the cost was too much for me. Bored&Stroked here on the Barn mentioned a product called CERAKOTE which I looked into. They have MANY colors and specific purpose applications, some firearm manufacturers are even using CERAKOTE instead of blueing. I called the company and told them what I wanted to coat and was recommended their MC-160 High Gloss High Temp Ceramic Clear. I got a 16 oz. bottle, followed their recommendations, used a small HVLP gun, applied 3 light coats. I am really pleased with the results, added a nice smoothness to the As Cast finish, glossy but not shiny, guaranteed not to yellow.Time will tell, but I thought it a product worth mentioning.
 
Cerakote C, satin nickle finish. I did the heads, intake and oilfill/fuel pump stand with it!!!! I sprayed it with a HVLP touch up gun. Pressure is critical, IF I remember correctly I dropped it down to 20-22 psi, I think they say to use upwards of 25-27 but It was dry spraying at higher pressures


You should post pictures of your results, love to see how it turned out
 

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Yes Sir. Cerakote C can. Like any item, it needs to be good and clean. I bead blasted my heads and intake and then cleaned them real good with denatured alcohol. I taped off the insides of the spark plug holes (see third picture) as not to get it in the threads
 
34fordy
Living in the deep south, because of the "humidity" I sprayed mine outside, need to have a really good ventilated area. I sprayed fairly early in the morning before the humidity got too high and the temperature was right at about 78 to 80, the wind was still nice and calm and had the benefit of the strong morning rising sun to let it sit and cure!!!
 

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34fordy said:
Thanx for the great information rockfla !
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You're welcome, Like I say, with the cerakote C, the main issue you can have is "Dry Spray" so two things, you want to be slightly closer to your work than further away, and air pressure is critical. IF you get dry spray, you end up with a grainy black dust on the surface when it drys. They say to strip the finish back off and reapply the cerakote, I used an ultra fine scotch-bite pad and scuffed the surface really good and back smooth as I could get it, then re-cleaned the surface really good with denatured alcohol and then resprayed it, it worked just fine. SO you may want to have something to do a spray test on before you spray your main items. Again, spray in a really well ventilated area!!! Also shake it the full 15 or 20 minutes, whatever is on the bottle to make sure the ceramic is fully dispersed. I'm very happy and pleased with the finish results.
 
Cool Kat with Hot Car said:
Is this coating impervious to the gasoline and oil that will leak or creep onto the coated surface?
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I am not sure about the product shoebox used, I am hoping he will report back his experience and pictures of his finished product. This is the exact reason I used the cerakote C as that is exactly the reason it was given for its use. I have not installed the motor YET to have the Potential of this happening BUT I can report, I did get a couple of finger prints on the head while working on it and I took a "Tub-O-Towles" and they wiped right off with NO problem!!! No signs of it ever being there.
 
rockfla said:
I am not sure about the product shoebox used, I am hoping he will report back his experience and pictures of his finished product. This is the exact reason I used the cerakote C as that is exactly the reason it was given for its use. I have not installed the motor YET to have the Potential of this happening BUT I can report, I did get a couple of finger prints on the head while working on it and I took a "Tub-O-Towles" and they wiped right off with NO problem!!! No signs of it ever being there.
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When I spoke with a rep at Cerakote, I explained that I needed a CLEAR product to spray on aluminum cylinder heads that would not yellow and be impervious to gas/oil/heat and create a smoother surface on the As Cast aluminum. Without hesitation their MC-160 High Gloss Ceramic Clear was recommended. I followed their application instructions (see attached) to the T, including pouring through a 325 mesh filter and sprayed with 25 psi at the gun with a 0.8mm tip. Being a Clear coating, I've tried to show some pics that show the end result as best I can. Like rockfla, my engine is not in the car yet, so all I can say is that I'm really happy with the results so far and am optimistic it will perform as advertised.
 

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Thanks for sharing Shoebox, it does look good for just a clear. I believe that for the Cerakote C it also "said" to spray at 25psi ( I got the same exact application sheet) BUT like I said with mine it was dry coating and when I called the tech line, he had me drop my pressure down....SO not sure IF its the humidity that helped cause my problem OR humidity and distance from the piece BUT lower pressure and a little closer to the work piece made a tremendous difference for me!!! ALSO "NO" filter required for the C...and I believe its a 1.2/1.3 tip is required for the "C"
 
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rockfla said:
Cerakote C, satin nickle finish. I did the heads, intake and oilfill/fuel pump stand with it!!!! I sprayed it with a HVLP touch up gun. Pressure is critical, IF I remember correctly I dropped it down to 20-22 psi, I think they say to use upwards of 25-27 but It was dry spraying at higher pressures


You should post pictures of your results, love to see how it turned out
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This is the same coating that I use on my Stromberg carbs. As noted, the key is for things to be really clean and have the surface blasted with a sand/garnet type blasting material. The coatings need something to "hang on to".

Another important point is that this stuff is impervious to gas - so you can clean the coatings at a later date with lacquer thinner and a toothbrush. No matter what, you'll always have some sort of stain on carbs, manifolds, etc..

Another thing I'm going to try is the clear coating on some polished (and well cleaned) aluminum. I'm not sure it will stick, but their folks say that people use it all the time on polished wheels. I'd love to have a coating that really works for polished aluminum and polished magnesium . . . would be so valuable to us hot rodders!

You see boys . . . every once in a great while I have a good idea! LOL
 
The polished intake, heads and generator bracket are all sprayed with Cerakote MC-160 clear gloss
 

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Thanks Neal - you beat me to it! That is exactly what I am going to do for an off-topic engine build (blown 392 Hemi). I have a lot of both aluminum and mag parts that I don't want to spend the rest of my days repolishing! LOL
 
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