GOING FASTER IN AMERICA: It's time to look at friction.

When it comes to going faster, we typically ask our motor to work harder. Higher compression means more load on the piston/rings rod and crank. More rev's, means more heat and wear. More cam means more spring. More spring means MORE FRICTION and more friction SLOWS YOU DOWN. What if we made more power by making things work "easier"? When things work easier, wouldn't things run cooler and last longer at the same time?

FIGHTING FRICTION: Where Does It Come From?

Racing is (usually) a lubricated world. Take the, the gears in your transmission. The gear surfaces don't contact each other directly, metal to metal, there's an oil film between them. The rollers in tapered wheel bearings don't actually ride on the steel races, there's a lubricant between them as well. So back to the transmission, if the gears surfaces don't actually touch, where does the heat come from? It is created when gears come together and pushes the oil out from between the gear surfaces. As the oil is pushed out, the "peaks and valleys" of the gear surfaces upsets the flow, resulting in turbulence in the flow of the oil. This turbulence causes the oil work against itself, creating friction and heat. Therefore reducing the amount of "turbulence" and improving the flow of the oil will always reduce the amount of friction and heat build-up.

FIGHTING FRICTION: Why Smoother Is Better

Smoother is better, but how do we do that in a fast and economical way without changing the size or shape of the part? Well, thanks to the folks at Rem® Chemicals, Inc. we now have a very effective surface finishing system that effectively removes the "peaks" of the machined surface and does so without disturbing the dimensional tolerances. We're not going to go into how it works here, you can read more by clicking. The point is, we now have, in essence, an optically flat surface that not only works well, but looks very, very cool. There are three important benefits here: 1) since the "peaks" are gone, there is less turbulence and temps go down. 2) the thickness of the protective "hydrodynamic layer" (oil film) has now been increased. 3) because the peaks are gone, if hard metal-to-metal contact were to occur (loss of oil pressure?) the amount of surface damage would be considerably less.

MICROBLUE®: The ONLY Coating That Reduces Friction When "Things Don't Touch"

It is important to understand that conventional coatings (moly/Teflon, PVD's and DLC) scoatings do not have any effect unless "things touch". For example, moly coated main and rod bearings will not, by themselves, reduce the rotating friction properties of a crank & rod assembly. Why is that? Because they do not dynamically interact with lubricants (they will however, minimize damage in the event of a loss of oil pressure).

So, what makes MicroBlue® so completely different and unique from any other coating? The composition of the MicroBlue® compound is unique as it has a very dynamic attraction to lubricants. When a lubricant comes in contact with the coated surfaces, it changes and improves the actual wetting properties of the lubricant, much like taking a shower in soft water. You know how slippery you feel in the shower? Did you know that's because soft water reduces the surface tension of soap? It also changes the way soap "wets" your skin, making it, just like the lubricant, more efficient and slippery. Now, because this interaction is all based on physics and chemistry, then you realize that this happens to every moving, loaded and lubricated surface, every time!

ISOTROPIC SUPERFINISHING: It Only Makes Sense

Early in the development of MicroBlue® we realized that when we apply a coating that changes the way lubricants work to very flat surfaces, the results are truly stunning and in a good way (see chart on right). Understanding this, there is no logic not to superfinish every moving, loaded and lubricated surface we can. In a transmission, that means everything, gears, shafts, shift forks, dog rings and bearings, you keep the cases, we get the rest (rear-ends, ditto). The same apply's to engines as well. In fact, the only parts that are not polished are the pistons and rings (because we obviously can't - but fear not, they are coated).

MICROBLUE® COATING: The Last Step

Now that we have some very nice-looking jewelry, it's time to finish up our "Smooth and Slippery" program. That simply consists of MicroBlue coating all of the contact surfaces. Now remember, MicroBlue® results in NO SIZE CHANGE WHATSOEVER, so you need not worry about tolerance changes. We are also the last step before assembly. Do all your machining and sizing before giving it to us, and re-assemble as you normally would. Clean and flush with your normal solvents, they will not affect the coating (stay away from water-based washing systems, however). There is nothing special required lubricant-wise.