Engine Coatings

This might be of interest: Modern Motor Oil Can Damage Some Older Engines

the last factory flat tappet camshaft installed was around 1972 on sbc'c. after that they went to hydraulic cams the then to hydraulic roller. the coatings i am refering to are like a teflon or something like it that is applied on the parts prior to assembly.differant company's call it differant things and it may be differant.they claim that it does not change the thickness. Eagle, an after market crankshaft and other performance parts sell it. yes i can see it using zinc in older cars. Does anyone remember when they stopped selling leaded gas at the pumps. People thought the sky was falling.

Google something like "engine parts coatings". Lots of information out there.

I started coating piston and cylinders with Teflon 40 years ago on 2 cycle Motocross engines with very good results. If you want I can supply details, but a company called General MagnaPlate (They were in Grand Prairie, TX. last I checked) can do this and they now have different types of coatings.

http://www.magnaplate.com/

However, this may interest you, as they say it can be done at home.:

http://www.techlinecoatings.com/hi-performance/bs-internal-engine-coatings.html

Good Luck!

I believe you may be thinking about DLC (diamond like carbon) coatings. These are applied in a vacuum chamber with plasma assisted vapor deposition of carbon to the parts at less than 200 °C. The final coating is made up of graphite (2-D carbon sheets - like pencil lead), diamond (3-D carbon) and hydrogen.

Racing teams have been using this low friction / low wear material for several years. Ideally both components have the coating - such as the lifter face and the cam lobe.

Many automotive companies have tested and introduced the coating where the oil film provides marginal lubrication under certain conditions.

Here is one of many suppliers: http://www.diamonex.com/products/dlc-coatings/

Each supplier has their own "recipe" for coating the part. Often they use an intermediate layer of another metal to improve bond strength between the DLC and the part because you must not allow the coating to flake off. It is best used where lubrication is marginal and you want to reduce or eliminate measurable wear.

Crane Cams was marketing a process called Mikronite. I thought this was a surface treatment to the metal that left fine oil pockets in the surface.