Club Cobra - Quick Question?? Lifter valley paint

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Quick Question?? Lifter valley paint

During my block preparation how important is it to paint the lifter valley and iniside the timing chain with that special paint? I heard it helps with sealing the block and keeping the oil flowing, HOWEVER I have also heard others say they don't do it because it always comes off and gets in your oil?

Any quick thoughts? and what is that paint called?

Kramer

It's called Glyptol or something like that and the idea is for it to smooth out the surface and seal it. This provides a better surface for the oil return to the pan.

The paint is Glyptol. You can buy it from Eastwood. And I really don't like painting those areas. Other guys love it. If you do it you need to be absolutely religious about cleaning and prepping the surface...

you don't need to do it it is old school if you are concrened just grind the oil passages to remove the flash and you are good to go .the oil will find its way into the pan just fine. the paint is used to paint the windings on the stator in electric motors. jim

Painting the block does a couple of things, it increases the ability for oil flow or return to the pan but it also seals the casting. These blocks are cast in sand so a bit of slag or crap can come loose and get in oil system. Block prep should include removing the slag and little corner globs of crap and seam flashing. Rounding sharp edges and radius of corners are also a benefit. This helps to reduce cracking from stress risers. Removing slag also means nothing to get into your engine and painting with glyptol also serves same purpose.
There are many folks a lot smarter than I and may think differently but some of these things if done wrong can hurt more than help. I am of the school of deburring all slag and rounding corners but not painting inside of block. I also open up some return holes and block others to control where oil returns to the pan. I do not want the top end oiling to drip on the spinning crank. I have already opened the rod side clearances a bit 0.003" for better cooling but this also increases splash issues.
I think for most home builders simply deburr and remove casting flash and stop there. Place screens on oil return areas to stop top end parts from getting to pan is cheap and easy with no down side. I also wrap oil pump pick-up with metal screen tied with wire in the tube to again keep crap out of oil. Use good parts and a great machinist and ENJOY your grenade. I say grenade because if you are pushing to point that much more than this is really needed then little parts from big parts are just part of life at 7000 + rpm. If it never sees more than 5 grand then this is overkill anyway.

I have built many FE's and ALL have been coated with Glyptol. It was developed by GE to insulate electric motor windings. It does not get into your oil, and will only lose a bond if you did not prepare your block correctly. It will provide a much smoother surface area for enhanced oil return.
MD

if it works so great how come it's not used in a cup engine? and my engine builder never uses it in my sprintcar engines $30K +(ott and shaver) "and will only lose a bond if you did not prepare your block correctly." there ya go! you said it yourself. Jim

Keith Craft uses it on all of his blocks.

Thanks for the notes....my builder seems to know every aspect of these 427's but mentioned that he does not usually paint the inside with Glyptol and I just wanted a sanity check to see if this is something I should push with him. I am very confident in his skills and but just wanted to get others thoughts.

Kramer

You've made a wise choice IMO. My block came painted; I had some machine work done and they put it in their Automatic Pressure Washer to remove chips, etc. It also removed some of the glyptol; therefore, I removed the rest of it. Yes, obviously poor prep work. Why take the chance of it getting in the oil passages?

Dan

I am not anti-Glyptol, but not pro-Glyptol either. I think if you are concerned with drainback, you could "port and polish" all the return surfaces and not have anything on there that could loosen up over the years

Drainback is only critical in mechanical design, meaning the those obstructions need to be fixed (casting flash etc). Glyptol doesnt help that.

The second benefit of grinding and cleaning everything up is to reduce the stress risers where a crack could start, Glyptol doesnt do that either

So basically, to me its a bit gimmicky, it does look pretty and probably wouldnt hurt, but I dont see it as a requirement

For me, the biggest issue with FE drainback is too much silicone on the end gaskets pushing into the drainback at the head. Once it gets in there it stops everything from the head......and Glyptol doesnt do anything to help there either :)

I dont think it'll hurt anything, but I still subscribe to "why bother"

How many stress cracks have you seen that originated from the lifter valley?
Answer - none

OK - lets try - how much faster do you think the oil will drain from a painted versus an identical oil wetted polished cast surface?
Answer - not much if at all

The encapsulating dirt idea at least sounds viable. Except that, if the adhesion fails at any tiny spot, you are introducing debris instead of containing it.

At least the stuff does really look cool - - if you had a clear intake so people could see it....

I still don't like paint...your builder will disagree...if you put ten builders in a room five will be on either side of this discussion :)

If there is ANY chance that it would come off ...why would anyone use it? Flow Schmow....it flows just fine without the paint ...
my 2 cents