Do I believe that painting an engine black would show a visible decrease in temperatures, or somehow increase HP? Not for a second!
Since the power production of an engine is due to the release of heat from gasoline (in this case), it seems logical that the more heat conservation in the engine, the more heat that goes into making power. That's all fine and dandy, but a million other variables come into play. Increased temperatures also cause metal to expand, which means tighter clearances, which means more friction, and heat lost to it, (lost power). Like Jim pointed out earlier, heated intake air is less dense, which causes lower VE (lost power). Higher cylinder temps cause the air/fuel mix to spontaniously combust BTDC, causing too high of a pressure to early while the piston is still on the compression stroke after the spark has ignited a seperate part of the air/fuel mix (detonation, lost power).
Does an engine produce more power when hotter?
Does an engine that is painted black run cooler? If it does, does that mean it looses power?
I would never paint my Pontiac engine black. I like the looks of a Pontiac engine painted Pontiac blue, and would be willing to sacrafice some HP to keep it that way!
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