Metallic Madness
A look at a couple options everyone is talking about in the Metallic Universe!
Recently there have begun to be more treatments and options available for all of your different rotating parts, and even your stationary ones! Sometimes it is hard to determine exactly what is worth spending the extra money on, and what might just be a waste of it. I am going to talk about a few various treatments and tricks that the Pro’s are using, that many people are just starting to hear about, and at the same time I will try and help you figure out if these are technologies that you may or may not want to spend money on.
First of all, lets talk about polishing. There are more than a couple ways of polishing a surface, however before we get into that, lets talk about what this will gain you. Pro Stock and Pro Mod racers have been having their ring and pinion’s polished for quite some time now, and the reason is simple. It cuts down on drag and allows for the two metal surfaces to glide across one another, freeing up horsepower. A couple of the more popular methods of polishing are REM and Micro, however you are really obtaining the same properties. Either way you are smoothing the surface and taking away any porous properties that may have been there originally. Now this leads into a bit of another debate in what kind of lubrication is needed once you have polished these surfaces. Many companies do not recommend the use of a full synthetic (organic materials) gear lube. The reason for this is that petroleum is by nature a sticky substance to a degree and will adhere to the gear surface. If you were to take a gear that had not been polished and run it in conventional gear lube and then do the same thing to a gear that had been polished, you would notice that it doesn’t retain the same amount of grease after it leaves the grease pool. If you perform this experiment in the same way, only this time using a full synthetic lubricant then you will see that it hardly adheres to the gear at all! Something to remember is that gears build friction, and friction builds heat. This leads me into the next topic…
Cryogenic treatment. This is a pretty simple concept, however many try to complicate it. It is debated on which parts it actually does the most for, and some if it does any at all. We have found that it does increase the life of a spring quite considerably. Valve Springs and clutch springs are very common with this treatment. You will also find engine blocks, heads, rods, cranks, pistons, valves, the works! What this process actually does is take the metal down to -300 degrees F. It then holds them there for a short duration of time and then slowly brings them back to ambient temperature. This is the same as a heat treatment, but in reverse! It is allowing the molecules of the metal to align in a more cohesive way allowing for two enhanced properties. One benefit is that it becomes stronger, anywhere from 50% to 300% depending on the metal. The second is that it has better heat dissipation properties, which allows it to stay cooler. That is what brings me back to using it in the rear gear. A rear gear is like any other metal part, it will last longer and be more efficient if it is cooler, but at the same time it can’t be submerged in fluid or it will cause drag. Therefore, Cryo-Treatement to a ring and pinion can be very helpful in that it will increase the strength, and allow for the heat to dissipate out more easily.
Now, what does this all mean to you? Well that depends on what kind of racing you are doing. Polishing of parts is a very inexpensive way to gain performance. I highly recommend polishing to all of my drag racing customers. It is an affordable way to gain a little more without going off the deep end. This process can be done to transmission gears as well. We commonly are performing this to many of the top manual transmissions including G-Force, Liberty, Lenco, Nash, and many others! It can be applied in automatic applications as well.
As for Cryo, well that is something of a different story. It does have it’s advantages, and is no doubt something I use, however is not something that everyone should spend their money on. I do recommend it for all racers on valve springs and clutch springs. It has some very good qualities that it contributes to, however is not needed in all applications.
Many of you have heard about the new 9” Ford Third Members selling for more than $4500.00 a piece. You have heard that they use ceramic bearings and many other things, but I am sure many of you have been cautious on this purchase, as it is doubling the cost of a normal good third member. We will be offering a new “Pro Roll” gear soon that will be priced in a more affordable price range and offer many of the same options. We are currently working with many customers to custom build each third member to what they need specifically. We do not charge for consultation, and we enjoy making sure our customers get exactly what they need.
For more information, please feel free to contact me.
Cale Aronson
Aronson Motorsports
