jgcable

I am about to purchase headers for my 77 4spd. Its a stock L48. I have been wondering if there is a big difference between steel and ceramic coated headers. My car will never be in the rain or the elements so durability is not a concern. Is there a big difference in heat transfer into the cockpit of the car? What about the difference between steel side headers and side pipes and ceramic coated long tube headers and a true dual exhaust system?

BoredNord

I've been trolling around, so I'll give it a shot and regurgitate some of the stuff I've read.

Ceramic coating the headers help keep the heat where you want it, inside the exhaust tubing. The heat helps maintain the speed of the exhaust gases and let's 'em push out more easily. In theory, the ceramic coated headers should reduce the engine bay temperature in comparison to uncoated headers, but I'm not sure the difference between ceramic coated headers and the exhaust manifold.

In theory, ceramic coated headers and side pipes should give you the most heat offset due to how much more air the side pipes are exposed to(to allow radiant heat out and away from the car.)

I'm not sure on the difference between side pipes and true dual exhaust as far as performance. Tagging this topic for later!

ddawson

Yes very worth it from the heat issue alone. I even coat my Stainless Steel headers.

C3 Stroker

Ceramic coated headers will outlast plain steel ones 5 fold. Steel ones will rust out rather quickly if you drive your car at all.......usually in a couple of years, even with "hi-temp" paint. I've had my coated ones 15 years or more now. They still look good.

Swiftrider08

Check out Eastwood Hi Temp Internal Exhaust & Header Coating. I just recently installed Dougs chrome headers & side pipes and used this coating on the insides of both the headers and side pipes. Easy to apply and holding up good so far.

cagotzmann

Here is my experience.

Engine GM ZZ383. Headers are Sanderson shorty's 1 7/8 tubes.
I purchased them without any coating and painted them with high temp paint (flat black). Using a IR Gun with a running engine they measured about 580-625 at idle after complete warmup. Once I knew the fit is perfect ( needed to mod one tube to fit ) I had them ceramic coated. The only difference is in the look. Painted surface slowly burned off in the hot spots. Ceramic looks the same over time.
But as for heat they still measured the same temp. I still had the same problem of burning spark plug wire boots. I then purchased ceramic plug boots.

So my conclusion is to ceramic coat for look and extend the life of the headers as it does little to nothing for engine compartment heat.

(flat black)

toobroketoretire

According to the header manufacturers the ceramic coating makes the headers slightly more efficient as the coating helps to keep the heat inside and the coating extends the life of the headers. The difference will make a few horsepower difference but the main advantage is the better looks and service life. The biggest disadvantage I can think of is the increased heat in the engine compartment as everything even close to the headers gets much hotter.

My '82 has the stainless steel tubing exhaust manifolds and the amount of heat that comes off them is enormous. After about 30 minutes of running my dip stick gets so hot I have to use a rag to pull it out.

jgcable

It just doesn't seem worth it to me to spend the extra money for ceramic coating. its going to increase the cost of my headers from $560 to over $800 and my car is never going to be out in the rain or the elements. Its only going to leave the garage on nice days and will only get wet on the rare occasion that I have to wash the car. Side headers, side pipes and mufflers are expensive enough in steel!

C3Hawk

My coupe came with the Heavy Duty headers from Hedman. They are thicker than the regular ones and not as expensive as the ceramic coated.
I have to say, they have held up well. So they might be a good compromise to consider.

TedH

LONGEVITY (header life)

I bought a set of steel Hedman's back around 2000. Had them Jet-Hot coated. 5 years in Fl and then 6 years in OH and 4.5 years in AR and I have yet to deal with rust-out. The collectors are where we get most rust out and they are whisper quiet.

I think Hedman has its own HTC coating now.

Stainless or not, I will thermal coat all headers I buy/install... I have a pair of stainless 1 3/4" headers in a box that Jet-Hot coated from an online seller. I plan to install them once my Hedman's blow out OR I upgrade the engine for more power.

jgcable

Regarding headers I am only looking at 2 brands and I would assume by the price they are HIGH quality. Hooker and Dougs. Both black, both side headers. They are roughly $550-$580. The Hookers are Super Comps I believe.