I'm planning to freeze my crank, rods, pistons, rings, barrels, valves and springs, clutch basket, main bearing bolts, etc - essentially anything taking load.
I haven't been able find any horror stories at all but I thought I'd ask since there're a lot of members on here :-)
Is anybody aware of _any_ downside at all to Cryo-freezing engine and other components?
Cost is minimal at A$5.00/kg (about US$170/ld I think) so even that isn't a downside.

I know someone who is getting some very good results out of this on barrels. Its being done by somebody in the usa.
Perhaps i should get some cryogenic treatment as i sure could do with stress relief myself ..... who mentioned a trip to prague then ..... http://www.gixxer.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Somebody in the US?
Isn't there somebody in England doing it?
I'm having it done here in Perth, Western Australia!
The guy even did a go-kart motor without disassembling it. Didn't gain any power of course but the owner claims it holds it's power for much longer which is a pretty significant benefit in any two-stroke racing :-)
I think I recall seeing ina Wiseco catalogue or perhaps it was APE that they offer it on their components?

That makes sense. It's sort of like cold annealing the metal, making it more brittle, but at the same time much harder. I'd imagine if you dropped it it'd get a nasty crack in it, but I guess that'd be the case anyways.

That was my first thought oo but apparently it doesn't become any more brittle.

It is more effective when the parts are processed specifically

ie Aluminium should be processed differently to Steel etc

It does work.

It makes bits last longer too

You just need to lower and raise the temp slowly. All it does is align the molecules. Doing it slow is the key. I think there is a company in California that does it called 360 Below.

there is a guy in the south doing stuff for the NASCAR guys ,I was also looking for .
I was going to have some valve train parts done .

i forget the name but there is a place in chiacgo my friend sent his turbo there

Don't forget that, along with hardness, you get brittleness.

I would have thought that myself but in this case apparently not.

I would have thought that myself but in this case apparently not.



Actually, yes...it is the case.
If you doubt it, ask a metalurgist or welding engineer about it...I'm sure they'll agree.

If not, we should all figure out how to make a piece of spaghetti softer, without wetting it....so we'd never have to boil it again.

Asking the people who do the freezing they say the metal does not become any more brittle. Whether ot not that is possible due to the very low rate of freezing and thawing used I have no idea.

Asking the people who do the freezing they say the metal does not become any more brittle.


Maybe they do...but consider the source.

The makers of the infamous "Tornado" say it makes hp...I call it an intake restriction that can be duplicated by merely hitting your intake piping with a ball peen hammer a few times.

I know several people that have tried it with good success.

We have a guy here in town that builds a bunch of dragsters. They kept taking out rear ends in the dragsters. They sent a set in to be cryoed just to try it out. Rear end didn't go out. They send them all in now to be cryoed and have not had any more failures.

That is not conclusive evidence, by any means.

Not only that, but for me to say that it makes the metal more brittle may or may not be a bad thing. It very well could be that they were having problems with elasticity, which leads to fatigue and failure, as opposed to an actual breakage due to lack of tensile strength. If that was the case, yes, I could see the cryo treating helping.

Some other things that must be considered is the original properties of the metal chosen for the application. Cryo treating it can make it better or worse. It also depends on the application of the part.

My crank guy cryo's all of his big stroker cranks and has less rod bearing failurs.
You can do what you want. I will be cryoing every part in my next turbo motor.

I want to trial cryo on some valves to get around failures.
Its got to be worth doing on any heavily machined parts to realign the molecules.

My crank guy cryo's all of his big stroker cranks and has less rod bearing failurs.
You can do what you want. I will be cryoing every part in my next turbo motor.


Go ahead. Your money, your parts. Your "crank guy" has got to know more about metal than welding engineers and metallurgists. I'm sure it doesn't matter what kind of metal your parts are anyway, huh? http://www.gixxer.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Well, since you aren't claiming to be a metallurgist yourself we're suposed to accept your "opinion" over what the guys who do it for a living tell us?

It has nothing to do with hardening. It makes the enite part uniform on the molecular level. Hardening happens when you have rapid changes in temperature or from compaction (work hadening).

--And don't do some research and give me shit about crystaline versus molecular. Crystals are arangements of molocules... IE molecular.

Did you miss the part about my saying to consult a metalurgist or welding engineer?

Do you not understand that somebody that sells an item should be considered a biased source when they tell you how good it is?

It's your money. If you don't want to investigate things and be sure of what you're getting, don't try to make me out to be the bad guy....just go spend your money. It's not any sweat off my back.

http://www.300below.com/site/home.html