I have decided that one of my 2011 projects is going to be getting rid of the ugly rusted painted headers. I have been searching around for all of the cabin heat fixes and am just looking for a definitive answer. All other things considered, would ceramic coated inside and out headers transfer less heat than stainless sidepipes. On one hand you have a thermal barrier but its still right under your feet. On the other hand no barrier but the pipes are no longer an inch under you. My searching here has went yes to both questions so making an informed decision is difficult.

 

I'm no expert, but I doubt that the stainless sidepipes would transfer that much heat to the cabin. Most of the system is either in the front fenderwells, or outside the car, and both spots have a lot of natural airflow, which should dissipate heat.

The only issue with the sidepipes is the noise factor, as they dump right next to your ears. I had a set of the Hooker sidepipes on a Pontiac T/A, back in the 70s. They looked really cool, upped the performance quite a bit, but having them exit right behind my ears got "old" after a couple of summers of driving.

 

Coated longtube's should help with underhood temperature's, but the heat's gotta go somewhere, so maybe even make your footwell's hotter. Sound's like time for some reflective heat barrier over the exhaust and under the carpet. Also, what shape are your long tube's actually in. If only cosmetically rusted, you can send them to Jet Hot for blasting and coating. Done this on few car's, and still look like new. Give em' a call.

 

Recoating sounds like a great option.. I have the Hookers , both headers and sidepipes... MUCH lower cabin temps... Most of the heat is away from the footwells and floorboards as mentioned... Noise? It's a sports car... My tops are never on and earplugs are available..

 

Don't know if your interested but if I was going to replace my frame type headers I would try these...
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...ess-steel.html
They don't do anything for the heat but they look like good quality for a decent price.
I currently have stainless headers with 4" chrome sidepipes and love them.
Not too loud, they look great, and no real problem with heat.
I have a small amount of reflectix on the floor and standard muffler inserts in the sidepipes.
Looking to replace the inserts with something that will give me a bit more H.P. but don't really want to go much louder.
I agree that if the headers you have aren't rusted thru. I would consider sending them to Jet Hot.
And for the heat I would use the standard heat shields that came with the car and then maybe add some tape on the pipes if needed. Along with some heat barrier on the inside of the cabin if needed. When I had an undercar exhaust I found that reflectix was sufficent. I feel alot of guys spend too much on heat shield without having the factory shields in place first.
If they are compromised structally I would go to stainless.
They look great and last forever!
Just my .02!

 

He doesnt have those in a big block but I am looking at his sidepipes though. He is charging 1200 bucks for a complete stainless sidepipe set up for the big block so that is a tough decision there. I called jet hot about coating the ones I already had and they want 340 to give them the 1700 degree sterling inside and out coating.
thats a great deal however shipping was going to be a huge money hit. If i am going to stay with long tubes it was going to be cheaper to buy their already coated ones. 504 shipped for a new set. i couldnt get a quote to ship mine any cheaper than 100 bucks one way.

 

If you want to reduce cabin heat, spray your floor pan and firewall area with a heat barrier like lizard skin or similar product.

 

that is on the list as well but wont be for a while. i am pulling the interior out to put down the heat barrier kit from madvette but that is going to be a project for down the road. for now it i am starting at the outside and going in.

 

Ceramic coat worth it inside tube/out.

Have a slave cyl right above my collector doesnt even get warm.

 

... changed my mind. see below

 

Im probably going to curse myself for this. I said I didnt want a set of Hooker sidepipes because of the fitment issues I had read about but my wife said to quit messing around with it and just buy a set already so I went against better judgement and now have a set of ceramic coated hookers with Maxflo inserts in the mail. I read a couple of times that summit would take them back and send another set if there were issues so I am banking on that. I learned a long time ago that when the wife says you can spend money better do it quickly. Now i just need to get a set of shields. I like the steelshields but 500 bucks is a little rough after just dropping the cash on the rest of it.

 

Baby steps, enjoy the pipes and first time you burn your leg (if you do) $500 won't seem so bad LOL. For no more than what they appear to be I think the shields are over priced but what are you going to do?

 

cobrastuff.com has chrome ones for 200 bucks.
i may have to go that route.

 

As I mentioned before, I had a set of the Hookers a long time ago. I'm not familiar with their current muffler options, but I originally had the glasspacks, which were a pretty loud, but "straight through", so they actually didn't get that hot. The following year, I put in the "reverse flow" inserts, and they were quieter but ran hotter...

 

I've posted this before but here it is again .. http://sweet-thunder.com/ .. As for the burn... You will learn to get out, walk away, come back later to clean ect ...

 

i read too many times that the oem style pipes killed hp because it was so constrictive and i dont like the sound of the sweet thunders.

 

I can understand the problem witht he oem or restricted flow mufflers

I have the hooker coated headers on my 69 and had the oem style mufflers to start with and the sound was ok but very quiet.

Then I took the car for a spin and found it acting like it had a govener on it

Ordered the sweet thunder inserts and yes it is louder but the motor loves it

 

My 1970 BB, which I assume is pretty much identical to your car as far as insulation goes, doesn't have much in the way of insulation to protect the cabin from exhaust pipe heat radiation.

However, the 68's and early 69's are well insulated. I'm adding the 68/69 iinsulation system to my 70. It's not very expensive. This insulation system includes the tunnel shaped insulator (which you have already) plus fiberglass pads covered with aluminum foil that go under the driver's and passengers floor pans (underneath the car) and the pads extend about 1/2 way up the lower engine side firewall. You end up with the entire underneath of the car from the lower firewall to behind the seats all shrouded in fiberglass insulation.