Inside the the heads..

[dvonk]

So this guy's been living in my block for 12 years...

haha, gross.

[DMC3165]

Truthfully I expected worse Nick. Best to take the advice from the guys here and completely tear it down. You might also want to think about looking around for a decent used motor or consider doing a 3.0 upgrade. I know you'd like to keep it original but you know what your in for with this motor and if the valley in the block is badly corroded its probably not worth mesing with.

[Nick774]

Thanks everyone, As of now the motor is stripped completely to the block. My plan is to have it sandblasted and powder coated as long as there is no damage to the valley and such. However I may have an alternative if my block is no good. my brothers 06' chevy cobalts tranny is shot leaving a perfectly good motor up for grabs. I havent looked into the specs of it yet but if it is adaptable this could possibly be a solution and save me the expense of buying a new motor. I still would prefer to keep my engine or atleast still use another donor delorean motor but this is just an idea im tinkering with. Any thoughts on this one guys?

[dvonk]

...My plan is to have it sandblasted and powder coated...

this sent up a red flag in my mind. IIRC it was previously mentioned by a knowledgeable member that powder coating can trap heat in the engine... i.e., blocking or reducing the metal's inherent heat-dissipating capacity.

however, i could be wrong. can someone confirm or refute this?

[LEVY]

I don't believe is true. Rust, dirt, oil and grease will trap more heat than a clean painted surface. Black will disipate more heat than bare metal.

LEVY

this sent up a red flag in my mind. IIRC it was previously mentioned by a knowledgeable member that powder coating can trap heat in the engine... i.e., blocking or reducing the metal's inherent heat-dissipating capacity.

however, i could be wrong. can someone confirm or refute this?

[Nick774]

Ok so after looking into the specs on the cobalt engine I am not impressed with it. 130hp, 4cyl. engine? id rather take my chances with my block being rebuilt.

[Squall67584]

The ecotec can be built up to make HP, but torque might be limited by it's displacement. There was a turbo version that came in the Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Turbo, 270hp and 270tq if memory serves. But again I'm not sure how much of that torque is usable in real life situations instead of full throttle dyno numbers.

[David T]

The motor is water cooled. This means you do not dissipate much, if any heat directly from the metal of the motor to the surrounding air. The heat is transferred to the anti-freeze in the cooling system which gets circulated to the radiator (heat exchanger) which then transfers it to the air. Roughly 1/3 of the heat energy of the fuel is handled this way. Another 1/3 goes out the tailpipe and 1/3 is converted into mechanical energy and propels the car. Painting the motor will have no effect on it's temperature. You do need a certain kind of paint. It must adhere to a casting which can never really get cleaned perfectly and the paint must be able to take a large temperature range without losing adhesion or cracking.
David Teitelbaum

I don't believe is true. Rust, dirt, oil and grease will trap more heat than a clean painted surface. Black will disipate more heat than bare metal.

LEVY

[dvonk]

fair enough, i like to be proven wrong (especially with a logical explanation) because it means i learned something new.


now if i could just figure out what exactly i was trying to remember... unfortunately, i believe it was in a thread from the old forum, so i may never know for sure.

[LEVY]

If you can feel your engine is hot, then your engine is dissipating heat directly to the atmosphere. When sizing a radiator for a specific application, engineers take in consideration all the heat dissipated through the engine, cooling system lines, exhaust pipes, transmission etc.

LEVY

The motor is water cooled. This means you do not dissipate much, if any heat directly from the metal of the motor to the surrounding air. The heat is transferred to the anti-freeze in the cooling system which gets circulated to the radiator (heat exchanger) which then transfers it to the air. Roughly 1/3 of the heat energy of the fuel is handled this way. Another 1/3 goes out the tailpipe and 1/3 is converted into mechanical energy and propels the car. Painting the motor will have no effect on it's temperature. You do need a certain kind of paint. It must adhere to a casting which can never really get cleaned perfectly and the paint must be able to take a large temperature range without losing adhesion or cracking.
David Teitelbaum