What Coating For Headers?

[Stanley]

Paint vs. ceramic vs. jet-hot etc. or other finish for new headers. Price, corrosion protection, temp reduction near carbs?

 

Twenty years ago got some nice Clifford headers for my Chevy truck. "Saved" $150 by not ordering them coated, now they're shot. Don't want to repeat that for the Z. Don't know about coatings, though.

 

Seems like using spray cans would be cheapest, but how long would that last?

[Kurbycar32]

Coat or don't coat, rattle can is just rust prevention.  

in terms of heat reduction you cant do much better than actual exhaust wrap

jet hot is gorgeous but does not reduce heat like exhaust wrap

 

I would ceramic coat the headers and then wrap the whole exhaust.  Wrapping brings potential rust problems if the parts get wet and then just sit on the bare metal exhaust, but personally i don't see this as an issue due to the fact that hot exhaust doesn't stay wet and many people don't even drive their Z in the rain.  My ATV has 10 year old exhaust wrap thats just fine and its in much more extreme conditions than a should experience.

[siteunseen]

I have the ceramic from msa and it looks as good today as it did 4 years ago. No discoloration anywhere.

[John Coffey]

Swain has probably the best from a thermal perspective.  Jet Hot 2000 is the next best.  All others are just for show.

[Yamahacam]

I have been told by my local exhaust shop that wrapping my headers will dramatically shorten their life. I don't track my 240, I hardly ever drive it and never in rain but would like to keep engine bay temps down. Anyone experienced wrapping problems?

[Kurbycar32]

I have been told by my local exhaust shop that wrapping my headers will dramatically shorten their life. I don't track my 240, I hardly ever drive it and never in rain but would like to keep engine bay temps down. Anyone experienced wrapping problems?

Ive heard that several times.  I think maybe it used to be true but i have yet to come across anyone that has personally witnessed it.  My ATV sits in the elements year round with nothing more than a tarp, i tear through mud and puddles and put it away wet.  If anything was going to rust it would be an abused dirt bike.

[Stanley]

I was mostly concerned about rust, but temperature control might be more important than I thought. Hadn't heard of Swain before but checked it out. A bit pricey with the shipping but looks like it's a different process with much thicker ceramic, probably the way to go for performance, especially racing. I see a lot of dragsters with those white pipes, it's probably Swain's. I don't race, except occasional test & tune, but do take road trips in the desert where it gets over 110F.

 

Seems like Z's wouldn't have as much of a problem with engine bay temps as newer cars that don't have much room for air to circulate. However, headers have a lot more surface area to radiate the heat, so it would be good to do something to keep it cool near the carbs and intake

 

Maybe the problem with wrapping is it works too well, keeping those pipes extra hot and eventually causing the metal to deteriorate. I'd like to wrap just near the intake but that's the hottest area; I've read that hot spots are bad for headers.

[Lou240]

I like my Jet Hot coated header

[Chickenman]

On 2/4/2015 at 5:08 PM, Yamahacam said:

I have been told by my local exhaust shop that wrapping my headers will dramatically shorten their life. I don't track my 240, I hardly ever drive it and never in rain but would like to keep engine bay temps down. Anyone experienced wrapping problems?

It's true. The wrapping dramatically reduces header life, especially on a DD. I've seen the results in person. Headers that literally fall apart after a year of being wrapped due to heat fatigue. Even SS wrapped headers get over heated and turn brittle. Mild steel just falls apart in big chunks.

The other problem is that if the car is a DD driver and is run in the rain, you can get sections of the wrap that get soaked with water and road dirt. Usually on the bottom of the collector. On short trips in the rain, the wrap gets soaked in water and doesn't completely dry out. Creates a lovely, corrosive paste solution of water, dirt, etc that just destroys the collector. It's surprising how much water soaks into the wraps.

Paint or coating don't have the same issues. Swain Technology is very good. Particularly on the inside of the pipes. A lot of Turbo guys get the inside and outside of the Turbo exhasut housing coated by Swain.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2016 by Chickenman

[dmorales-bello]

Does ceramic coating the inside and outside of the header lower the heat in the engine bay?

[Chickenman]

Yes, That is the best way. In fact coating the inside is far superior to coating the outside in heat retention.  However, it is much more difficult to do. The headers usually have to brand new as you have to Media blast used parts to get the Ceramic to stick properly. Extremely hard to get the media to clean all the way up the headers, then there is the issue of cleaning all of the media out. Best to talk to the vendor if you want to do something like that.

Coating the inside of the header also extends it's life as the tubing heats up a lot less.

 

[dmorales-bello]

16 minutes ago, Chickenman said:

Yes, That is the best way. In fact coating the inside is far superior to coating the outside in heat retention.  However, it is much more difficult to do. The headers usually have to brand new as you have to Media blast used parts to get the Ceramic to stick properly. Extremely hard to get the media to clean all the way up the headers, then there is the issue of cleaning all of the media out. Best to talk to the vendor if you want to do something like that.

Coating the inside of the header also extends it's life as the tubing heats up a lot less.

 

My MSA headers have been on there for at least 5 years according to the PO and have been wrapped for all that time. I'm removing them soon and the plan is to have them ceramic coated once the wrap is removed . Let's see what the shop says when I ask them to do inside as well! Maybe I'll have to get new headers to get that job done (hopefully not). Thanks for the info.