awesome idea jaberwaki but the article I read this in sais that the "rust" forms so rapidly that even in molten form, the metal seems to be inert. Therefore it would be impossible to isolate the moment at which it oxidizes. good thinking though. no swirl marks!! My dream would come true!!!

 

undestructible paint that would be awesome, imagine have that on you car, i'll take mine extra extra thik. it be like having super armor cool.

 

bullit proof paint anyone?

 

Im going to go run lots of water over my engine so it super strong

 

Keep us updated on that please

 

I was j/k

 

Oh...

(I was kidding too)

 

Thats what made the Hindenburg go down. The canvas panels that wrapped the hydrogen balloons forming the large football shape were coated in a (then new) slivery-colored aluminum paste/paint. The panels were grounded together and grounding straps were trown down and hit ground before landing to dispell any electrostatic charge. This is/was normal procedure, but a couple panels weren't properly grounded to eachother and a spark across the panels ignited the aluminum powder that comprised the paste/paint and the fire quickly spread and ignited the hydrogen. An object in powery form is expenentially more flamable than in its more-solid form.

Although, since you are talking about paint that is based on oxidized aluminum, this shouldnt happen.

 

wouldnt it just ground itself when it landed? I dont see the advantage of grounding it through a strap.

 

My daughter had a 79 toyota celica years ago and I thought it blew a head gasket because it was blowing water out the exhaust. I pulled the head off of it and took it to a machine shop and they told me that because it was aluminum it had entered a state of electroalisis...(not sure of the right spelling for this condition) that it was no good, it was leaking in many places. They told me that aluminum does this when it gets old, I always wondered about aluminum engine blocks and heads after that experience. Sounds like an Iron block would be better, but I don't know that much about the whole business.

If anyone knows of such a condition with aluminum heads ...please elaborate.I hope my LS1 heads don't go bad after 10 years or so of use.

I've heard the factory coolant for our cars sucks too.

 

The grounding straps are for a more controlled/localized discharge instead of a bundle of sparks in various places.

----

There is electron flow between differeing metals. It is best to keep different metals separate. The problem wasn't the aluminum head or the iron block....it was the combination of the two. Over time their mating surface will corrode. An all aluminum or all iron engine (heads and block) wouldn't have this problem. This isnt typically a major problem though. You can sometimes see this issue in plumbing.