Athena cylinder plating issue

Personally id get it replated.

Maybe shoot Athena an email?

Did you try to rehone it?

Edit: It looks like some sort of deformation for the plating cooling down dramatically maybe? I dunno, I'm no metallurgist.

TrailDigger wrote:

Maybe shoot Athena an email?

Did you try to rehone it?

Edit: It looks like some sort of deformation for the plating cooling ...more

TrailDigger wrote:

Maybe shoot Athena an email?

Did you try to rehone it?

Edit: It looks like some sort of deformation for the plating cooling down dramatically maybe? I dunno, I'm no metallurgist.

...more

I had that thought as well-wondering if sucking in cold water shocked the plating. Total WAG on my part though.

omalley wrote:

I had that thought as well-wondering if sucking in cold water shocked the plating. Total WAG on my part though.

omalley wrote:

I had that thought as well-wondering if sucking in cold water shocked the plating. Total WAG on my part though.

...more

You'd have to ask an expert. I could picture it heating up to engine temps and cracking off the cylinder walls or something of that nature.

Wonder what happened to Millenium - they used to post on here all the time and would be able to answer this question better than anyone.

It looks like plating is cracked. I could see that flaking off pretty easy.

Nikasil coating is very thin. It looks like it's starting to separate from the aluminum of the cylinder bore. I can tell you from personal experience Athena quality control is horrible, as is their customer service.

I've seen a similar issue but coating starting to chip from the top gasket surface downward. Also dealt with a BBK from them that was advertised as 12.7:1 compression. Did a fluid measurement and it came out to 10.9:1, if i remember correctly. I will never deal with that company again.

By all means, shoot Athena a email. They're going to tell you that based on the pics, the cylinder is 1) scored 2) the plating is damaged from thermal shock 3) purchase a new cylinder or replate the one you have 4) they're not gonna pay for it since it was under water. That being said, don't run it...the electroplating doesn't expand at the same rate as the aluminum (Aluminum expands more). The plating isn't fused to the aluminum, it's effectively a mechanical bond...think traditional chrome plating or even silver soldering/brazing. The sudden cooling of the electroplate material while the aluminum is hot could certainly cause the coating to flake off, which will roach the piston, cylinder, likely the crank, and possibly the head too.