As far as Glyptal, some of us have been "lucky" with it for decades of use. If the oil returns are addressed prior to application, and you don't glop it on, it'll work just fine. Some parts we have coated, the Glyptal could barely be cleaned off with a sand blaster. It's like any other paint project, it's all in the prepwork and some in curing. Kaase still does it, so it can't be that stupid...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dIrvPfrnXjM
Notable quote from the video from Kaase concerning the 'improved airflow' from reworking his exhaust ports: "It'll flow a little bit better. It also hurts it about 30-50 horsepower, so we don't care as much about the airflow as we do about what that needle says on the dyno".
Good stuff. Theory and intuition take a back seat to experience.
I would be interested in hearing anyone's testimony in which they had an oil control problem that was remedied by it. It does look nice, but for as many people that use it successfully, there are as many that don't use it successfully.
The glyptol doesn't cure an oil control problem. I don't believe anyone has ever said that. It does aid in getting it back to the pan faster, and when you're turning 7000+ RPM and making 1000-4000 horsepower, anything that can aid in getting oil to the pan faster, to keep from sucking the pan dry, is a good thing. Wouldn't you agree? This would be especially important on engines that run at high throttle inputs for extended periods of time, such as the boat engines he mentioned. It also seals porosity on the block, which can hide grit and impurities that can contaminate the oil, or cause caking.
Spending hours and hours and hours with a stone (sending abrasive grit to every crevice in the block) to smooth the casting finish seems pretty stupid when properly applied Glyptol will do it better, and quicker. Not using it in areas where parts are touching or moving should be common sense.
John Kaase has every right to brag about his accolades and accomplishments, but he is one of the most humble guys you will ever meet. A lesson that seems lost on a lot of people.
The way I was looking at it, oil not getting back to the pan quickly enough would be an oil control issue.
My thought on it is that I have never personally seen a situation where it's warranted. I've never built anything that made 4000 hp, but I've built a lot of pulling engines, bracket, and road race engines between the 700-1300 hp marks, and have never used any kind of internal block coating. I can only go by what the oil pressure gauge does during a 20 second truck pull or a hard-loaded acceleration and by what the bearings look like on tear-down. That's why I made that statement, I'd like to hear from someone who did a back-to-back and saw a difference. I mean, we all have to be honest with each other here, there's a lot of practices that we put into our own personal engine building procedures that may or may not make a hill of beans difference, but we do it because we like to do it.
Like Ross, I too have had experience with it when receiving blocks machined by a particular shop. I've seen it flake off after a hot jet wash.
Agreed, Kaase is extremely humble and a very down-to-earth guy. I spent a day in his shop several years ago, had lunch with him, and dyno'd a B9 engine there. Would love to have picked his brain about a bunch of stuff, but you always feel odd about asking lots of questions, because there are guys who have figured a lot of stuff out on their own and don't want to share (nor should they).
