Eric,

If you could find out and post here how much your best friend is going to charge us for ceramically coating the stock exhaust manifolds, I'd appreciate it.

There must be a reason why Nissan put that heat shield there :-) Thanks!

Depending on the coating some will not take direct header or manifold heat. For example you can can not silver coat a catalytic converter they get too hot. Your manifold should be fine black or silver as the exhaust is not that hot.

FYI, mine is coated black so it will not surface rust. It had nothing to do with anything but appearance. If he can do it, do it. JMHO, Richard.