I been trying to read up on coating headers and wrapping headers. I have a question I haven't seen addressed.
You need to have a clean surface for the coating to bond properly. Do you need new headers or can ones that have been on the car be cleaned? Is it the same answer if you want the inside coated? I would think cleaning the inside would be much harder. From what I can read, you need to coat the inside to keep heat from getting to the metal and keeping it going down the exhaust. Coating the outside then gives more shielding for other components in the engine bay.

 

I bought some headers for my car that came ceramic coated. When I looked at them a year later, the coating was flaking off in places. It was apparently a very cheap, crummy coating. I had them redone locally, and that coating has been in great shape ever since, several years now. So yes, you can coat headers that have been run.

 

Not going to coat inside the header pipes, just the outside surfaces.

Header pipes need to be cleaned, and the surface prepped for the coating to stick to it in the first place.

So to prep, basic sand blasting kit in the yard will work fine, which will surface prep the metal to allow the coating to stick.
Hence Dust Respirator Mask/eye protection, so your not breathing in the crystalline silica to end up with black lung or getting it in to your eyes, and the grass will love the extra sand that you will add to it from the blasting.

So something like this,

Fine grade play sand from home depot, and an air compressor to drive it,
Will be enough to surface prep the metal to accept the coating.

Before coating on new headers after blasting (which you need to do right after before the metal parts do start to surface rust), pick up a quart of acetone and some paper towel to wipe down and de-grease the headers surface just before you go to spray coat them.

As for coatings, there are some that will harden without needing to be baked, while some that require baking isntead. The later coatings work better since they are a harder coating from the baking process, but as for the coating not flaking off, that all comes down to surface prepped and de-greasing so the coating can correctly bond to it in the first place.
Note here, where the pipes come to connection points, it help to head up the parts, to allow any oils to be leached out, before you start to do the acetone wide down process. If lubes are leaching out as you are spraying, the coating will not bind to the metal in those areas correctly.

 

Just my .02:
If you coat the inside and it flakes, it will clog up your cats. Then you'll be scratching your head wondering what's wrong.

 

Send to swain tech coatings.

 

I think I'm going to take them to Jet-Hot. From what I can read they are a quality coating and they are local for me so I can drop them off instead of shipping.

 

I had jet hot do the super high degree coating on mine since I was supercharging

 

Also used Jet Hot, they did a great job.

 

Some may be interested in an Engine Masters episode that they tested header coatings for temperature drop, and it was a disappointing 10°. They don't mention the brand of coating, iirc, and that may, or may not, be an important factor.........

 

Hi Rob,

I bought American Racing headers, X pipe, and high flow cats for my '08 C6M about 3 years ago. I had them all professionally coated (Hi-temp All Ciloxide Black) inside and out by Pro-Kote Indy (Indianapolis). I'm very happy with the results and I'm amazed at the reduction in underhood temps. Also, the tunnel temp reduction is incredible.

I was also concerned with the potential clogging of the cats but their cleaning and application process is top notch. No issues and it's amazing how you can touch the headers 10 minutes after you shut off the engine. I wanted maximum heat reduction which is why I went for the inside & outside coating. This is the one and only Vette I'll have so longevity is important to me, and I'm glad I had all the components coated inside and out.

 

I was also planning to do inside and out. I was thinking of doing just the headers and not the entire exhaust. I wonder what the real difference is from Jet-Hot to other places? I am not planning to do boost, but you never know.

 

10°F, I assume, is hardly worth the effort.

 

If you insulate something it will be higher temperature than it was non-insulated. If you just let the pipe open it will cool down rapidly and heat everything around it. Not good.
The insulating helps keep energy inside the plumbing where it belongs and out of the engine bay.
It will reduce all forms of heat transfer conductive through the insulation materials K and the convective and radiating energy as well.

All vehicles can benefit and the more energy the engine is flowing (power:time) the more insulating becomes a critical component of performance, not just to insulate but also control the energy with other means as necessary.

 

I guarantee my under hood temps and tunnel temps have been reduced by more than 10 degrees... appreciably more... from personal experience.

 

Unless you have actually measured the difference with a calibrated thermometer, you can't be certain how much difference the coating makes. I am merely stating what I have seen on a reputable program, with an actual measurement. Every little bit helps, but for me, going thru the battle of removing and replacing my Kooks LTs isn't worth the 10°. I was as disappointed as anyone with their results. I wish they had named the coating brand, but they didn't. Moving forward, I think hood vents would make a much larger difference, for not much more $$$. My .02.....

 

Just to add a little to what grinder is saying....I've had three C6's with three different makes of long tube headers. No coatings. Never did anything special to insulate the plug wires or starter. Never replaced a plug wire or starter. Probably 150K miles between the three of them. And it gets a little hot around here.

 

You wouldn't really be interested in the temperature of the headers. You would be measuring the temperature of components nearby. for example when I insulated my engine first step before it can become a proper daily driver is to ensure the temperature of components and underhood is sufficient after long drives lots of boost high mid-day noon sunlight surrounded by concrete, is the valve cover and coils near the temperature of oil. Do the fans kick on and off. Is the IAT nearly ambient. Is the strut tower and firewall and fuel lines cool enough to touch or how hot do they get and what can you do about it, shielding, wraps, coating, blankets. This stuff isn't optional guys. It is for low power stock setups but if you want to actually maintain a performance application setup you must take things a step further. You need to keep that heat inside the engine and plumbing where it belongs. Now I can drive anywhere anytime and the parts all stay cool enough for reliability... survival... longevity.

 

I had a stock 2005 and I would say that the tunnel ran hotter than I expected. This 2008 with headers runs even hotter and I notice the heat on my leg. So moving heat from the manifold out the backend will be a welcome change. I fully expect to have many words trying to get the exhaust off and back on, but it will be a good experience for me. I will heat shield a few other things while I have the exhaust off the car.

 

Motorhead, I agree with you. I've had my Kooks 1-7/8" LTs on for over 80,000 miles. I have 143,000 total on my C5. I still have the OEM starter on it. No heat shielding on starter, no wrap or coating on headers. I would think the starter would be working overtime cranking a 427. But it's good for now. Owes me nothing. I do think reducing underhood temps is a good thing. But I'm not convinced header coatings are the answer. I'm sure they help some. But not so sure how much.