It will happen soon. I have posted before on the options out there for ceramic coating my headers. I have procrastinated on removing my headers because it is a pain in the rear. I am in the early stages of a engine rebuild so it is time to look at options again. Please share what you know with me... I am located in Georgia, if that makes a difference or if someone knows a local company around Atlanta.

Be brutally honest about the results is happy or not with who you used... Thanks!

 

I would say use Jet-Hot...go to their website you can find alot about it there. They may also have a forum discount for us. Im not too sure about that. I would say get the stainless-steel coating...it looks super nice and works great.

 

All I can give you is this:
A co-worker had a new set of Datsun 510 headers ceramic coated and, when they were done, were gorgeous to behold.
He hasn't installed them yet, so don't know a thing about their durability.

Larry
code5coupe

 

One of the the things I came across back when I was researching
ceramic coated headers for my 94 LT1, was never to use new ceramic coated headers on a brand new engine. Recommendation was to wait for the engine to get completely broken in and rings seated. Seems the oil leaking past new rings and hot exhaust will completely mess up the internal coating.
Just my 2 cents.

Dray

 

Thanks - another post assuring me that I definitely want to go with the SWs long tubes... I'll never have enough down time to have headers re-coated... VR92 says his never last more than 2 years (~$200 each time)... That worries me with the Vette being my only car... I hope you get a good durable coating (I don't know the facts)

 

I worked for a coating company when it first came out and did experimental testing for them. We tried many different things and coated many parts. We also did helicopter parts with exotic military coatings.

First you need to make sure the parts are blasted with aluminum oxide
That makes it stick good because ceramic coatings is made of aluminum and ceramic. Do not use sand or they will never stick even if you alumi oxide them later.

Pay a little extra to have them coat all the tubes inside to, all the way through. That helps a lot because the condensation is on the inside.

If you get a cheap price they are using the cheap stuff or putting it on real thin. This stuff is real expensive and that is why it cost so much.

I still do coating jobs through this company but only for a few people. Mostly local racers and car show fanatics that want them hand sanded and polished.



We also use the coating on wheels and other aluminum parts. Makes the wheels look like chrome but won't crack or chip. Picture is of a Corvette wheel done almost ten years ago.

You can learn more about coatings here:
http://www.racevision.com/products/coatings/index.htm

For race cars, turbos, or people that have to much heat under the hood you can add a special thermal barrier on the inside of the pipe. This is a dark colored coating that is more expensive than the ceramic coating but works better than the ceramic to hold in the heat.

This works great to cool cars that have high under the hood heat. You can grab the pipe a few minutes after it is shut down it works so good.

The main reason we coat the pipes is to gain horsepower. By keeping the heat in the pipe it makes the motor breath better allowing a more complete burn. That creates the extra power.

As for waiting for the motor to break in that is not an issue. Ceramic coatings should not have a problem if done right. We have done bike pipes that don't turn blue.

 

Hi.
I have TPIS headers and I believe they use the JetHot coating the shiny one that is called silver?. Be sure you have the headers coated both inside and outside as that will take care of heat problems in your engine room. I am very satisfied with them.

 

I just coated some headers and down pipe for a friends turbo SVT contour project. If you're ambitious and have the right tools (spray gun, oven, polisher) you can do it yourself. However if you're only going to do this once in your life just mail order with someone like Jet Hot or maybe you can find a local company. Jet Hot quoted us over $300 and we laid out less than half that, and have enough material to realistically do 4 more sets.

We used a product called Cerakote Chromex. Do a Google search on it, I think we purchased it from www.caswellplating.com. It was about $100 for a quart. The above advice is good, we blasted with 70 grit aluminum oxide. We used a cheapie Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun that cost about $40, then used a home propane grill to cook the coating. The instructions say to cure at 500-700 degrees for one hour. We left the lid propped up and wrapped it in aluminum foil. We were able to get up to 550 degrees. The coating dries to a dull gray finish, then we used a vibratory polisher with glass beads and they came out almost chrome like. Maybe not as good as JetHot but not bad for the price. I suppose the polishing is optional.

 

That's one theory, but it won't stand up to careful scrutiny. ( 'burning' that occurs in the headers won't produce pressure increases in the combustion chamber, which is where power is produced)

Another theory is that ceramic-coated headers allow for less heat loss in the exhaust gas as it passes through the header tubes, thereby keeping the gases hotter and the velocities higher. This is what fractionally increases power (better scavenging).
If I had to choose between those two theories, I'd have to take #2.

Larry
code5coupe

 

Here's a vote for Swaintech. IMHO it's the only truly effective coating I have come across. It's not a show coating and will stain if you get greasy fingers on it, but it really does an amazing job reducing radiant heat. It's NASA quality stuff.

 

Kind of leaning that way, just because of the customer service so far...??

 

I have had good luck with HPC coatings