Is Glyptal Engine Paint Worth the Bother

Well I am planing the future build of my street Flathead V8. I am wondering is Glyptal Enamel worth the price and trouble. Will it keep the inside of my engine cleaner? Can it be used inside the water jacket as well?

Thanks!

Mike

 

i believe the main purpose of painting the inside of tehe block with Glyptal is to allow faster oil return to the pan. i dont think you want faster water recirculation, wont take away the heat.

 

Dont do it ,but tell everybody you did and you will be golden.

 

And exactly how much faster will it be?

Dont paint it but tell everbody you did and you will be golden

 

The Glyptal trick was used to slick up the inside of the block to aid oil drainage back to the pan and reduce oil spray in the crankshaft windage area. Some how it starting being used by "the top engine builders". I don't think it makes much difference personally, unless you don't prep the block for it correctly and it peels off and stops up the oil passages. Not too good.
As far as using it in the water jackets, I don't want anything seperating the coolant from the block. Especially on a flathead.

 

If you get it for free, then it's worth it. If you have to buy it, don't bother. I get it free, so I did my BBC 427 with it, just because it was free.
I'd never do anything to the water jackets, except water and coolant.

 

There could also be a case made for using it to seal and secure any casting sand or rough casting that could break away.

-Brad

 

I say no.

I've never used it in any of my engines and never had any problem with the oil making it back to the pan.

 

If getting a few spoonfuls of oil back in the crankcase faster will make any difference, you have problems paint won't solve.

Old sand cast aluminum engines have porous castings that can benefit from being sealed with paint. it stops oil leaking through. Have seen old motorcycle engines that came that way from the factory including 30s Harley crankcases painted inside with what appeared to be red lead.

But for a typical iron engine block or heads, waste of time and paint.

 

Race engines are routinely disassembled and inspected. And, they generally don't last as long as street engines do. All things considered, on a street engine there is more risk of Glyptol eventually ending up where it can cause problems than there is benefit(real or imagined) from doing it.

Doing it on an old casting, even if the part is is thoroughly cleaned, increases the risk of adhesion problems over what would be the case with a new casting.

If you feel the engine needs it, use a die grinder and abrasives to clean up and polish inside the engine. Of course, every piece of dirt and grit must be removed after the work is done.

 

If you want to spend time making the inside of the engine look pretty, use a sanding roll and smooth the rough spots in the casting....

 

Glyptal has to be applied correctly and the surface has to be clean ( really clean) and after you apply it you have to bake it. A master engine builder told me that painting the inside of an engine block adds to the risk of things that can plug lines (paint flakes). A lot of work for no advantage.

 

I was told long ago by my machinist not to do it. He had seen cases where it flaked off, blocking the oil pick-up screen. The best bang for the buck is to smooth out around the drain holes and call it done.

 

I used to deburr all of mine and paint with rustoleum. I'm a little scared anymore since all of the good stuff has been taken out of the paints. Now, I tend to just deburr before having the block vatted.

 

It's a no-no to me. I had some heads done at the churn'em out rebuilder near downtown/fairpark area. The heads came back coated in it. I ran them for no longer than two months when I yanked the motor out. Upon inspection only a tiny bit remained...of course it was done at a mass builder so I'm sure they didn't spend to much time in prep

 

Think cast iron cooking pans that get seasoned from repeated heat cycles of hot oils...........same thing with your engine, the pores will seal naturally.

 

I do it on every engine I build - inc my blown Flathead and a blown Hemi. Others I know use it as well and have never had an issue on street OR street/strip type cars so no issues there.

I have never seen it come off - infact, repeated acid baths failed to remove the stuff and the block had to be shot blasted to removed the balance of it.

The surface MUST be ultra clean and allowed to dry thoroughly before engine assembly. I usually allow 5-7 days in avg weather. I like to paint it when clean/dry BEFORE any oil or lubricants go near the engine (other than oiling up the bores/machined surfaces to prevent rust)

Seals up the cast iron pores, oil flows back to the pan FAST and when lashing valves or doing routine maintenance, it makes it REAL easy to see what you are doing in a tight valley and also see any potential problems that would be otherwise harder to spot.

Just my 2c

Rat

 

I have rebuilt a number of engines in my relatively short time and I had never used it before. It sounds a lot like the arguments I have heard about POR-15. It is good and works well if the prep is done properly. I still have some thinking to do. I have seen it in alot of engines including vintage air craft. I need to think on it a while yet. Regardless you all have given me a good deal to chew on!

Thanks a bunch!

Mike

 

The only engines i have dissasembled where it had not
flaked of is army engines and they are probaly painted
when new.The last FE i dissasemled was ful of paint
flakes oilpumpscreen.oilfilter.rockershafts.
so i wouldent use it

 

If you do paint the inside of your engine with Glyptal, Rustoleum or whatever... a trick is to put wine bottle corks in the lifter holes to prevent paint from getting in them. The best part of this exercise is emptying the wine bottles first. I have painted the inside of a couple of engines with Glyptal without problems...never baked and never flaked. Thinking about it now, it was likely a waste of time.

 

No idea whether its worth it or not but my NOS Hornet engine has it.It was in the ports too.

 

Some have claimed it won't peel and end up in the pan, some have said it will. I say "why risk it?"

As some others have stated here ... if you feel the need to do something along those lines, polish the inside of the block using cartridge rolls (or at least take a diegrinder and a burr and grind off any casting flash).

Ask yourself this ... How much work am I in for (in order to rectify the problem) if I start seeing paint flakes in the oil? Yeah, that's what I thought too ... just not worth the risk for what could very well be minimal benefit, if any benefit at all.

 

I read somewere that old Harley cases leak less if coated with it.

 

A buddy of mine restores antique aircraft. Many of those aircraft engines used the glyptol in the crankcases but later found that it was contaminating the oil. The consequences of any engine failure in an aircraft is much higher than a car so these guys really keep a close eye on anything that may be an issue.

There are other high-tech coatings available that will seal the lifter galleys and other oil return passages without the drawbacks of glyptol.

 

A professional engine builder told me to coat inside BEFORE machining. Never used it myself.

 

I had problems with it flaking decades ago...
My cure is to de-burr the casting, clean thoroughly (bake, hot tank ) and then....spray the inside with....
Dry graphite.
Oil runs back to the pan faster than you can imagine !
Bonus is , if it happens to flake off....It will NOT clog or hurt anything!

Dave

 

I will paint the inside of my old engines right after I hear myself say "Dang, If that oil had just run back faster the engine would not have blown up"...I have never had to say anything close to that. Are ya going to paint the rods, cams, valve covers, rockers and rocker galley and crank and pistons too? Those things have oil all over them. Engines have been running for over 100 years without paint on the inside.
I did have to paint the inside of a british bike engine once. Those alloy casting had one too many supermarine spitfire pieces melted into them....and yes I did put it together first and see the oil leaking through the case and said "dang I should have painted the inside of the case to seal the leaks" and took it back apart. If I ever get stupid enought to take another british bike apart then I will paint the case.

 

I am not sure what glyptal is I use armature paint. But I also polish the inside of my engines IE remove all the casting flash and smooth out all the parting lines. I think it may be a bit much for the average street engine but I am a little anal.

Anyway so much for my phylosophy, I was told by a Texan that forgot a lot more about engines than I will ever know that this was the proper way to do it. He also said that it did more than make the oil flow back easier it also sealed up the surface and kept the little pieces that would eventually try to flake off from ending up in your oil pan.

Anyway I run my engines hard and put long miles on them. I have not torn one down and found bits of paint in my pan yet. You have to make damned sure that your surface is clean to the max.

Disclaimer: I would not paint one for the sake of painting one if you are not willing to go the whole nine yards do not do it.

 

Bingo!!

 

My wife told me that also.... I'm glad she's old school!!...