engine paint color

[Walt Reynolds]

What color paint keeps an engine cooler or does it make any difference at all?

[Tim H]

I am thinking most will say Black

[rallye bob]

I heard many years ago, 'Da Grump said white........... Great topic for discussion.....

[cicero819]

Doesn't matter what color you use. If you are painting , then emissivity of the paint is the key factor in heat removal by radiation(none nuclear), in other words you could paint it with clear on bare metal and it wouldn't cause any temperature rise. One of the reasons Helicopter Engines aren't painted, plus it saves weight.

[Tim H]

25 years ago or so I was at a pretty big name engine builders shop and I mentionned that I noticed most of the engines they were building were painted black. So I said "I see that you guys paint them black to help dissipate heat ?" and he looked at me and replied " no we just use black so oil leaks won't show up so easily !".

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by cicero819

Doesn't matter what color you use. If you are painting , then emissivity of the paint is the key factor in heat removal by radiation(none nuclear), in other words you could paint it with clear on bare metal and it wouldn't cause any temperature rise. One of the reasons Helicopter Engines aren't painted, plus it saves weight.

The ideal way would be to blast the metal clean with a matte finish and find a way to protected against corrosion.

The next option would be flat black or any dark matte color. One of the best engine paints in the market is the Caterpillar Flat Black engine paint, it takes a long time to dry, however, if the block is clean and prepped, the paint will outlast anything else in the market. Another good paint is the PJ1 Fast Black motorcycle exhaust paint.

[Jeff Lee]

I use a heat dispersing coating applied by MACH Development. Intake, cylinder heads, block, radiator. There's a picture on members rides.
Other than that, I'm told flat black disperses heat best.