Ceramic coating

[Zoolander]

Anybody know of a place in Wellington that does HPC ceramic type coating for exhausts and stuff? If not, any recommendations for places elsewhere? Cheers.

[Warr]

Ask the Auckland place, they may have an agent or whatever.
Tis good stuff, but sadly costs !!

[Badcat]

Anybody know of a place in Wellington that does HPC ceramic type coating for exhausts and stuff? If not, any recommendations for places elsewhere? Cheers.

yeah. Hpc are excellent. Can't you just courier the parts to Auckland? I would. They always do brilliant work with my stuff. Ken

[Zoolander]

Cheers guys, yea I should be able to send parts to Auckland, was just hoping to see some stuff they've done so I could get a proper idea of colour etc. Ken you don't have any pics of anything they've coated for you by any chance?

[Grub]

OK, I'll ask the dumbass question ... What does the ceramic coating do? What is it for? {alright, it was two questions}

[ajturbo]

they are suppose to look cool.....

but they keep everything cool!!!!

[Badcat]

Cheers guys, yea I should be able to send parts to Auckland, was just hoping to see some stuff they've done so I could get a proper idea of colour etc. Ken you don't have any pics of anything they've coated for you by any chance?

not up close i'm sorry .
they did this pipe...
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showpost.php?p=530833&postcount=125
every time i get anything back it's better than i expected - and seems to last for years - yeah, and it's always easier to clean too!

ken

[Robert Taylor]

they are suppose to look cool.....

but they keep everything cool!!!!
I dont know whether you are talking 2 stroke or 4 stroke exhausts....

Thermal coatings are most often not a good call on a 2 stroke tuned exhausts as retention of high temperature will actually narrow the powerband. Within given limits the exhaust should be cooler at lower rpm to slow the internal wave speed which is temperature dependent. That will give slightly more torque ''under the powerband'' so it is useful. At higher rpm the pipe should be somewhat warmer to raise the wave speed so it acts like a shorter pipe for more high rpm torque and power, plus over-rev.

These well known facts I have personally verified many years ago on my dyno and on track. We sent the pipe back and asked for the coating to be removed. As I recall it was met with some indignation at the time, but hey the caoting made the overall performance worse.

Looking cool can detract from ultimate performance. If this was a holy grail all manufacturers of 2 stroke tuned exhausts would place a thermal coating on them standard.

[Zoolander]

Cheers guys, some good info, I'll have a chat to HPC about maybe sending some stuff up. Would be for 4-stroke pipes.

[ajturbo]

wow.. robert....

i am always amazed at what and where i learn stuff...!!

but i must say, that i was only thinking of my buell... the pipe tries to cook my right knee... most of th etime.. that is why i hate stopping!.....

and if i was to spend up large on my bucket ( over $50).. it would be on better forks....... (butt kissing)

[vifferman]

...was just hoping to see some stuff they've done so I could get a proper idea of colour etc.
Remember: The Interdweeb is your friend. :yes:
Check out their web page (http://www.hpcoatings.co.nz/) - there are pics of finishes, colours, etc on there.

[F5 Dave]

Interesting Robert, I've had my 50 pipe plated some while back & it didn't seem to make any difference, but it was a high speed engine operating only at high rpm.

my 500 2 stroke I just dyno'd & it does seem to rev a little higher than my calculations (sadly I didn't do before & after as they charge a heap to clean out the used pipe). Anecdotally how much would you have said it increased peak power revs on a reasonable size bike (ideally 250)?

[Mr nor T]

Anybody know of a place in Wellington that does HPC ceramic type coating for exhausts and stuff? If not, any recommendations for places elsewhere? Cheers.

I have used Nano Energizer a couple of times now, tha twas in the states. but it may be here if you Google Nano Energizer
I Found that it did a great job of coating the engine. I did look at getting it sprayed but the cost was just to much.