I have a buddy who is thinking about having his engine and tranny treated. He wants to do it, but not sure if it's worth it. I've talked to some guys on racing teams that have treated their cars and they say that they get better performance and the parts last longer. Not sure how that works...
Anybody used a place called 300 below? That's the place closest to him. They sound legit, but my friend's wife is going to kill him...
What benefit are you looking to get?
It may work, but be if very questionable value.
I have heard of 300 Below and I remember going to some trade shows some years ago and talking to that company and 1 or 2 others. I have also read postings both pro & con on this type of heat(cold) treating and my take on it is, it seems to work on cast iron parts but normal heat treating on steel is just as good and I see no gain on aluminum parts.
Brake rotors if of a cheaper cast iron tend to last longer but the cost of treatment may not be offset by the longer life. You may be able to buy 3 sets of cheap rotors for the cost of treating just one set and only double the life.
I would however treat an cast iron block as the cost of a stronger block may far outweigh the cost of treating a "stock" block.
I've heard of people cryo treating clutches...
I've been reading up on it and it's supposed to decrease the chance of distortion of treated parts. Which, I guess is going to keep them working at optimal performance. Apparently, a lot of bally racers treat their ring and pinions for durability too...lot say it works.
A certain semiconductor company does it to their tool bits...
I have used it for spider gears and it seemed to work in that application.
In that they held together longer and failed in a less spectacular manner then before.
Supposedly it removes the residual stress in the metal. I always wanted to test some cryo treated parts in college but I never got a chance.
A company I service cryotreats their windmill gearboxes......they claim it makes them stronger.
I've mainly seen gear related parts only getting cryo treated, but in most cases, they claim it is for durability.
They used to do that to racehorse's legs. It's really berkeleying cruel. 
yamaha wrote: A company I service cryotreats their windmill gearboxes......they claim it makes them stronger. I've mainly seen gear related parts only getting cryo treated, but in most cases, they claim it is for durability.
U mind if I ask which company that is? I was JUST reading about the wind industry the other day and it said that the gearboxes are made from material to really last. I'm kinda wanting to maybe get into a wind industry job. Supposed to be up and coming...
It's for durability, not performance gains. Gearbox and engine internals are great for this if steel. I was a cryo tech in the military but we didn't do any "dipping" for strengthening parts or anything. But of course the whole dipping thing was talked about alot.
In reply to burn_t_out:
You have a private message....
Don't know if it's still in vogue but at one time some precision shooters were cryo treating gun barrels.
I was thinking about trying to find a place to do my trans gears. I wouldn't mind doing a shot peen treatment as well if it had any effect combined.
Teqnyck wrote: I was thinking about trying to find a place to do my trans gears. I wouldn't mind doing a shot peen treatment as well if it had any effect combined.
I was just wondering what would be better, shot peening or cryo treating.
Anti-stance wrote:Teqnyck wrote: I was thinking about trying to find a place to do my trans gears. I wouldn't mind doing a shot peen treatment as well if it had any effect combined.I was just wondering what would be better, shot peening or cryo treating.
Hesitant to answer due to the fact you signature says you really don't care, but here it goes.
Cryo will harden a part all the way through giving it a higher compressive strength (resistance to squish) but makes it more brittle (can't squish no more? SHATTER!!). Not very good for shear forces (the rippin' and the tearin') which benefits from toughness (takes a hit and bend back. . . or not).
Shot peening hardens the surface only by cold working. Also a secondary benefits are the little indentions from the media creates a larger surface area, and make little reservoirs for lubrication like jeweling does for a rifle bolt.
For gearing I would say shot peening to give just the surfaces a resistance to wear. Interaction between gears is shear and I would think brittle would not be a benifit.
Just my $0.014 (after tax), but I have been out of the metalworking game for about 6 years.
(this has taken so long to type, I sure somebody else has come up with the same answer.)
I'm fairly new to this site, how do you access private messages?? Also, on 300below's website it says that their treated pieces are heat tempered after cryo treatment which gets rid of the brittleness...sounds like they know what theyre doing. Says they've done stuff for NASA. Idk, maybe try something small I would suggest. My friend is going to have it done I think. Guess it's going to be his Christmas present to himself. lol
In reply to phaze1todd:
I care when it is informative... And that was. 
I had to drop of some stuff for a lift kit to get powder coated at a (performance?) metal shop here in Atlanta for work about a week ago. They had something about cryogenics in the name or slogan so I asked about it being an old cryo tech. She said its a hard sell because, most of the time, the customer doesn't see the results. They have to know and trust it has been done. I think she was referring to hotrod and drag racing guys. The place seemed to be loaded with old school stuff and powder coated frames and such.
I've always wondered about this too, not for stuff like rotors, but bearings/rings/pistons/rods if one was going to build a fresh motor.
yamaha wrote: In reply to burn_t_out: You have a private message....
looking at another threat ... you might need to PM him again
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/how-the-heck-do-you-access-private-messages-on-here/57416/page1/
never done it... but I know it was/is a big thing to do with brass musical instruments...
In reply to phaze1todd:
I have a set of those on a couple basses. They're very bright and will wake up just about anything - they made my Danelectro Longhorn sound like a Rickenbacker.
wbjones wrote:yamaha wrote: In reply to burn_t_out: You have a private message....looking at another threat ... you might need to PM him again http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/how-the-heck-do-you-access-private-messages-on-here/57416/page1/
It should have been an email.....I don't think we have "private messages" per say
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