Merged Thread: Coated Headers Discussion

[Hash Brown]

Im looking to get some LT's and have been wondering if its really worth it to get the coated LT's. Im gonna get an ORY but I know I wont get that coated. So can I get some insight here... Im kinda on a budget so, Im either going with flowtechs or pacesetter(more towards flowtech just bc they look better and hopefully the Y will be better than pacesetters)

[Mike Hawk]

Well.. I'm no huge techincal gear head.. but I just put Jet Hots on my ride and chose jet hot cause I'd like to keep the heat withinside the header.

[FstBlk Z28]

if you look on jet hot's site .... i think they have a good explanation of the benefits.... if not then talk to them about having info sent and it'll be in the packet they send you. The benefits i remember are :

Keeps heat in the header
Keeps engine comp. temp's down (air going to intake isn't heated)
Smooths inside of pipes for smoother flowing exhaust
Keeps the headers looking nice and shiny for way longer (biggest benefit IMO)

I got the first batch of jet hot headers that they made and i'm still satisified w/ the coating to this day .... a year and a half after they were put on the car:cool:

[URLUZN]

They compliment the engine bay, and you shouldn't ever have to worry about them rusting.....

[david852]

I currently have edelbrock shorties on my car, and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to have them coated so they do not rust? Or should I take them off and put a few coats of high temp paint on them?

[URLUZN]

I would go with some coated LT's

[david852]

I dont want to spend the money on LT's for I am not going to mod my car anytime soon. But I dont want my headers rusting :(

[bRa_DeN]

i think the coating would be benefical to you living on the coast with the higher humidity and moisture levels but i would get lt's if it was mine:)

[bRa_DeN]

i chose to save my money and get painted hookers and havent had a problem with them;)

[Hash Brown]

Get some new Flowtechs coated for $380

[jrp]

Originally posted by Trevor_00Ws6
Get some new Flowtechs coated for $380

:werd: or some pacesetters.

overall cost will be more as you'll need a Y pipe and o2 sims/extension though.

i'd take them off and just use some high temp paint for now and save the rest of the money for some future LT's.

[Constrictor]

Ceramic coating has the following benefits as opposed to non coated headers.

1. Resists rust
2. Lowers underhood temps by keeping more of the exhaust heat inside the pipe, where less of it can escape into the engine bay. (Proof of this is one day I was driving my car around and then I came home to change the oil. I drove the car up the ramps and decided to be brave and try to change it without burning myself. I ended up accidently touching one of the header primaries, and it was cool to the touch. Mind you, this was maybe 5 minutes after driving around for a good half hour. If those were the stock uncoated manifolds, they would have scalded my skin.)
3. By keeping more of the heat inside the header, this makes the exhaust gases move faster away from the engine (hotter gases move faster), thus increasing the scavaging effect of the headers, which can improve performance slightly.
4. Lastly, they look pretty! :D

[73RSCamaro]

New here but do have coated headers.
Coating is much better as the last post stated it resists rust. Painting with high temp paint doesn't last long and will still rust since the high temp paint is mostly solids and will hold moisture and allow the metal to rust below the paint.

[jrp]

Originally posted by 73RSCamaro
New here but do have coated headers.
Coating is much better as the last post stated it resists rust. Painting with high temp paint doesn't last long and will still rust since the high temp paint is mostly solids and will hold moisture and allow the metal to rust below the paint.

welcome :)

my Jet hots are coated naturally :D, and my custom Y just has high temp paint coating.

Even people with ceramic coating still seem to get some rusting, in which that case i'd go for some stainless steel.

[Blacker]

I have the JetHot Coating on my Hooker LT's and they are still rusting. Someday, I will have to remove them and have them recoated. Not too pleased with the quality of the JetHot Coating since it was supposed to prevent this.

[Blacker]

Mine are JetHot Coated and are still rusting. The coating is bubbling and flaking off around the collector area of the header. The headers will have to be removed and recoated by JetHot. I would get stainless steel if I could do it over again.

[gdu]

get coated ones, my painted ones look like crap.

[03ToRcHrEdVeTtE]

Ive read that ceramic coating is a must on header sets but lately ive been reading that stainless are better. How true is this and which way should i go?

[bRa_DeN]

i would just get the ceramic coating, i have seen a few instances where the stainless crack:)

[bRa_DeN]

my car isnt a show car so thats why i got painted instead of jet hots:D

[Wile_E]

Originally posted by bRa_DeN
my car isnt a show car so thats why i got painted instead of jet hots:D

My car isn't a show car either but I got coated headers because I plan on having my car for a while and felt it was worth the extra couple hundred bucks. Plus, it acts as an insulator to keep the temps down under the hood.

[jrp]

Buy your headers with some kind of ceramic coating or get stainless steel. If you cant afford coated headers hold off until you can. If your car see's alot of winters (real winters; i.e. east coast and mid west, ect) you might want to seriously consider the stainless steel headers, they are more expensive then ceramic coated headers but the chance of rust will be greatly diminished

[bRa_DeN]

Originally posted by Wile_E
My car isn't a show car either but I got coated headers because I plan on having my car for a while and felt it was worth the extra couple hundred bucks. Plus, it acts as an insulator to keep the temps down under the hood.

in all actuality it would take a good while for a set of painted hookers to completely rust through:cool:

[bRa_DeN]

how long would it take for a set of painted headers to rust through?:confused:

[jrp]

Originally posted by bRa_DeN
how long would it take for a set of painted headers to rust through?:confused:

probably depends on the environment there subjected to. heavy winters with alot of road salt my guess would be not very long.

[bRa_DeN]

thats what i was thinking:)

[Durien512]

from my experience...

if you live in places where it rains or snows... or drive the car a lot.. coated headers will rust quickly...
i got coated headers, they went in the car in march... by now they are peeling..and badly rusted. The car never saw the winter.

I would recommend Stainless over anything now... i am going to get a set of QTP's with the high speed merge collectors:)

[DarkPhoenix]

Stainless is the way to go. It may not stay as shiny as the coated headers, but its long term durability is superior to that of coated headers!

[killer01ws6]

Originally posted by Blk02ls1a4
Stainless is the way to go. It may not stay as shiny as the coated headers, but its long term durability is superior to that of coated headers!

I agree, if you can afford a good set of stainless they will last the life of your car. I wish I had.

[Mark]

Originally posted by Blk02ls1a4
Stainless is the way to go. It may not stay as shiny as the coated headers, but its long term durability is superior to that of coated headers!

:yup: I went with the SLP LT's. They are stainless AND coated.

[Mark]

I decided on SLP's LT headers, they are stainless and coated. Can't go wrong there.

[Constrictor]

There were 3 open threads on the first page of this forum discussing the pros and cons of coated or uncoated headers. We dont need 3 threads for the same topic, so I merged them all.

[2002ws6_mn6]

Sorry if this was already said but too many pages to read...

This is off of Burnsstainless website, which is why I bought SS headers..


You may have heard Smokey Yunick talk about maintaining high exhaust velocity and increase scavenging by covering headers with a thermal wrap. In addition, there are companies that coat headers with a thermal barrier, typically some type of ceramic formula, in order to keep the heat inside the exhaust system. Stainless steel performs this function without the need for add-ons because it has a much lower coefficient of thermal conductivity, thereby keeping more heat inside and transmitting it to the header outlet. Radiated heat is perhaps the most important reason to wrap or ceramic coat the headers to protect the car and the driver from excessive, fatiguing high temperatures.

Typical 1010 carbon (mild) steel conducts 219% more heat per foot than do the types of stainless steel we use in header fabrication. By contrast, quite a bit more heat stays inside the stainless header tubes and does not get passed into the surrounding air. By not allowing the contraction of the cooling gases as they flow down the tubes, more exhaust velocity is retained which promotes better scavenging at the collector. This retention of velocity increases the overall header efficiency.


http://www.burnsstainless.com/TechArticles/Stainless_article/stainless_article.html

There's really a lot of great info on that site and Burns Stainless is one of the industry bests when it comes to exhaust design.

[MIKE2000Z28]

hey guys, if i just drove my car in the summer, would the Coated headers be good for a very long time?

[jrp]

Originally posted by MIKE2000Z28
hey guys, if i just drove my car in the summer, would the Coated headers be good for a very long time?

yes, they would be fine.

[fnbrowning]

It’s been said that one of the more important jobs of a proper exhaust header coating is to keep the exhaust gas temperature high and therefore maintain exhaust gas velocity for proper scavenging. The second and also important benefit is to lower radiant underhood temperatures.

The ceramic coatings are excellent for this use. Ceramics have long been used by the aerospace industry to resist extreme temperatures in jet and rocket engine exhaust nozzles.

Just how good ceramics are for this purpose has been difficult to demonstrate to the automotive enthusiast market. I finally found a good, reasonably scientific test of engine exhaust coatings.


http://www.zzperformance.com/downloads/engine_exhaust_coating_comparison1.pdf
The article require the Adobe Acrobat Reader to be installed.

BTW:

Paul Barry Motorsports and Performance Coatings of Georgia did the Edelbrock headers that I installed in my '97 WS6 Formula.

Nice Job, Nice person to deal with!
http://www.pbmotorsports.com/ceramic_coating.htm

[DaddySS]

Agree, primary job of coating is to keep the exhaust gases hot so the headers scavenge beter due to higher velociyty of the exhaust gases. Second is to manage underhood temperature, rust prevention is least important. Painted headers should be wrapped with header wrap.

[PC PaiN]

Some pretty good discussion in this thread guys. Lets keep it up :)