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  #1  
Old 10-25-2001, 09:58 AM
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Lesley Lesley is offline
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Default Headers: Coating absolutely necessary?

How necessary is ceramic coating on headers? $200 is a fair chunk to get my JBA shorties (6 cyl.) coated if I don't have to. I'm mostly concerned with longevity of the part. Someone posted that it was mainly for looks - c'mon! They are not pretty - gold plating wouldn't improve that! Will they rust out if not coated? Is heat the issue? Thanks for any help.
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Old 10-25-2001, 12:23 PM
70Ted 70Ted is offline
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not needed
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Old 10-25-2001, 12:29 PM
KETTERING KETTERING is offline
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I would only reccommend coating them if you do not drive the car/truck everyday. If the car/truck will be sitting for periods of time, you'll want to coat them to keep rust away.
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Old 10-25-2001, 12:39 PM
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Lesley Lesley is offline
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Thanks guys. The truck is my only vehicle and rarely sits longer than overnight. Since I'm in the "mods on a shoestring" category, $200 bucks is a lot to spend if I don't have to.
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Old 10-25-2001, 01:03 PM
kekoakeakane kekoakeakane is offline
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I would recommend the coating for good looks, longevity, and performance. I have headers on a truck driven daily and they still rust within 1 month of installation. The factory paint will burn right off. If you don't want to have them ceramic coated, I would at least look at stripping the factory paint off and using a header paint or POR-15 header coating. Either one of those won't burn off and your headers will last longer.

The ceramic coating also retains the heat in the exhaust which moves the heat towards the rear of the car. This reduces Engine Compartment Temperatures which increases efficiency and keeps the passenger compartment much more comfortable.
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  #6  
Old 10-25-2001, 05:32 PM
71 scamp 71 scamp is offline
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If you don't want to get them coated Eastwood sells some great header paints that won't change color.
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  #7  
Old 10-25-2001, 06:57 PM
bigdodgevan bigdodgevan is offline
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I'm with kekoakeakane, at least for the heat. With stock manifolds, you have a HUGE chunk of steel, which is a huge heatsink, keeping the heat moving down the exhaust pipe and out behind you. Headers are thin sheet metal, comparitively speaking, so you're going to get a lot of heat bleed-through into the compartment. Ceramic is an awesome insulator, so it will resist letting the heat flow into your compartment. Chrome will also work for this, but will probably cost more and be less effective at rejecting heat than ceramic.

my 2-cents
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  #8  
Old 10-25-2001, 07:44 PM
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dl79 dl79 is offline
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Post longetivity

My truck headers are 21 yrs. old. They are pitted some, especially down toward the collector, but have only surface rust. I've just built the engine-ready to go back in. I stripped the surface rust off the headers, and painted them with hi-temp black. Maybe they will last a few more years. The guys who are pro-coating have a good point. They will probably look better and perform better longer. I would probably do that if my ride was a really nice Charger, Challenger, etc.
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  #9  
Old 10-25-2001, 10:18 PM
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Lesley Lesley is offline
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Lots of food for thought there guys. I live in Canada, so weather and salt are a concern too. I guess I should probably think about getting them coated if it makes them more effective. Nice to hear that they can make it to 20 years, sure hope I have my dak that long.
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  #10  
Old 10-25-2001, 11:03 PM
Darn Dart Darn Dart is offline
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20 years ago they probably made better headers. Check around your area for a local ceramic pot shop. I had my Hooker super comps fully coated by a local kid who's mom owns a ceramic shop. He only charged me $100. I ran them all season this year and they still look as good now as new. Attached is a pic of how they turned out.
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File Type: jpg jul18$18.jpg (105.4 KB, 50 views)
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  #11  
Old 10-26-2001, 01:34 AM
MoJoe MoJoe is offline
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Hey, Darn Dart. What did they coat them with? Was it just one of the standard glazes that they use on ceramics? Or was it something special? Did they fire them in the kiln or use another process?

Thanks, Joe
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  #12  
Old 10-26-2001, 08:03 AM
Darn Dart Darn Dart is offline
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It is a ceramic metalic coating made for exhaust type stuff. I'm not sure where he gets it. He sand blasts the headers, coats them, and then bakes them in a oven. When finished lightly scuff them with steel wool to make'em shine.
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  #13  
Old 10-26-2001, 06:55 PM
turbotim23 turbotim23 is offline
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Default Headers:Coating absolutely necessary?

Guys you can buy home kits to ceramic coat your own small parts at Techline coatings[1-972-923-0752].Most people won't have a big enough oven to bake headers,but he said he has a black coating that uses the internal heat of header to bake coating on. I was going to try building a aluminum box over my gas grill to bake headers in.They also make kits for baking molly type coatings on pistons,bearings, etc. Good Luck Tim
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  #14  
Old 10-26-2001, 07:02 PM
unregisterred unregisterred is offline
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if you drive your trcuk regularly,forget it.
that stuff will start peeling in a couple months,and then the weather will get a hold of it.

that stuff is for show cars,or cars that are hardly driven and kept in a garage.
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  #15  
Old 10-27-2001, 12:04 AM
MoJoe MoJoe is offline
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Cool

Thanks, Dart. I'll have to check into that.

MoJoe
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