http://www.oldspower.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6068
Q: What is the difference in ceramic coated headers and "normal" headers? Are the ceramic ones worth the extra dough?
A: Basically a ceramic coated header has a coating on it that keeps it looking good and reduces engine bay temps down whereas a regular header just has paint on it which will all be gone within 10 minutes of running time and the engine compartment temp will soar. If you can part with the dough, ceramic coating is a very good idea. Magazines that do dyno tests have also seen hp gains from ceramic coating too.
The reason for the HP gains is that the ceramic coating is an excellent heat insulator and keeps the exhaust gases inside the pipes hot. The hot gases have more kinetic energy and will therefore move through the system faster, which enhances the exhasut flow and the scavenging effect in the cylinders.
Keeping the pipes looking nice and lowering the underhood temps are an added bonus!
I was thinking - you could buy regular headers, "custom" fit them to your car (you know, with hammer dents in the appropriate places) and then send them to Jet Hot or whoever and have them ceramic coated. Then they'll fit perfectly and you won't have to worry about damaging the coating when installing them.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
How can I ceramic coat the inside of my headers?
I've been told that the spray on ceramic coating Satin Black sold by Techline can be applied to the interior of the headers.
I tried and after a few minutes the ceramic material I has applied to the interior came out the end of the headers.
The exterior coating is still on and holding well.
Thanks
I tried and after a few minutes the ceramic material I has applied to the interior came out the end of the headers.
The exterior coating is still on and holding well.
Thanks
Doing it the hard way ..... and how!
http://www.classicalpontiac.com/restoration/4.html
For those of you who may be on a budget and still want to have longer lasting and non-rusting headers. You may want to try and coat them yourself. I had planned on the old BBQ black paint again. Then I came across a product called CERMAKROME made by TechLine. Its a high temp thermal barrier metallic/ceramic coating. IÕm sure there are other coatings on the market. I just happened to use this particular one.
In order to coat the headers properly you will need access to the following equipment and supplies:
a. sand blaster
b. airbrush or touchup sprayer
c. oven/heat source
d. 6 aluminum oven liners approx. 16"x18"(from supermarket)
e. fiber glass house insulation
The coating instructions are: sand blast the headers. Make sure all paint, rust and oils are 100 percent off. Do not bead blast. It doesn't open the metal surface like sand does or removes rust completely. Wipe parts with alcohol thinner or acetone. Do not use petroleum-based products. Warm parts to approximately 90 degrees. I used my wood stove in the garage. A heat gun would work also. This is to make sure no moisture is in the metal. The instructions say to spray a light fog on the radius first, then the rest of the pipe. I found that this left dry spots that when the over spray from spraying the rest of the pipe, left a bumpy, orange peel like texture. I found that by painting like I normally paint a part it work better. I kept a wetness to all of the area I was working on then moved down the pipe. Which kept the coating smooth looking and the finished results were far better.
But remember not to get it to thick.
I used an airbrush. I think a touchup gun may be too large to use. At least for me. Seeing that the pipes were pre-heated the coating starts to dry quickly. I hung the pipes from a wire so I could get 360 degrees around them. This let me start at the top and work my way down and around. I did spray the hard to get to areas first, of the section I was working on. Like where the pipe tubes come together as a group. Continue until the header is totally coated. The coating should be a .001" to .0015" thick. I couldn't mike it so I just put on a medium paint type thickness. The coating is now a light green color. The part now needs to be heated to about 150 degrees in an oven to dry. (10 min) The dry coating is a light gray. Then the part needs to be baked at 500 degrees for one hour. No you don't have to baste.
I used the household oven. Here's how. Seeing the oven door wouldn't close with the pipe in there. I extended the oven door. I put the pipe in the stove from rear corner to the opposite front corner. I wired the front corner to hang up to the top of the open end of the oven. I closed the door as far a possible. This will leave a tri-angle shape for the sides and a longer rectangle opening on top. I then cut and formed the oven pans to the tri-angles and made them about 1 _" thick. I stuffed them with the insulation. I did the same for the top opening. The oven pans are like aluminum pie pans, very easy to bend. This was also wrapped with aluminum foil to help seal on the oven and door areas. Of coarse you want to have this done prior to painting the pipe. Make sure that any oven switches (light inside) get insulated from the heat or they kinda melt. Make sure they have foil around them and are exposed to the outside of the stove if you can. I put an oven pan on the floor of the oven just in case.
There were no toxic type fumes or smells. Yes there was a baked surface smell but it wasn't that strong. I would try to close off the kitchen and open a window. After baking at 500 degrees for an hour let cool, do not quench. There will be a light gray /dirty white color on the pipe. Now take some "00" steel wool or medium scotch brite pads and start to sand the surface. What will appear will be a metallic coating. Which looks a lot like the "Jet Coatings", that you pay big $$s for, on the outside of your pipes. If you had a car undercoating type spray wand I'm sure you could also paint the inside. This is very similar to powder coating because the coating is made up of aluminum powder and phosphate/chromic solution. You then can keep sanding until they are polished or close to it.
There are several aspects I like about this type of coating. You can coat just about anything that can withstand 500 degrees (not internal engine parts). Also to touch up a nick in the coating, for headers, is warm engine, touch up then drive. This coating is very tuff but will scratch or chip if hit hard enough with some thing hard. Like a wrench when tightening the header bolts. The coating has been tested to a continuous 1200 degrees. It won't turn color and keeps the heat inside the pipe vs. the engine compartment. It can be cleaned up and thinned with water. Unless it dries first, so be careful about spillage.
For those of you who may be on a budget and still want to have longer lasting and non-rusting headers. You may want to try and coat them yourself. I had planned on the old BBQ black paint again. Then I came across a product called CERMAKROME made by TechLine. Its a high temp thermal barrier metallic/ceramic coating. IÕm sure there are other coatings on the market. I just happened to use this particular one.
In order to coat the headers properly you will need access to the following equipment and supplies:
a. sand blaster
b. airbrush or touchup sprayer
c. oven/heat source
d. 6 aluminum oven liners approx. 16"x18"(from supermarket)
e. fiber glass house insulation
The coating instructions are: sand blast the headers. Make sure all paint, rust and oils are 100 percent off. Do not bead blast. It doesn't open the metal surface like sand does or removes rust completely. Wipe parts with alcohol thinner or acetone. Do not use petroleum-based products. Warm parts to approximately 90 degrees. I used my wood stove in the garage. A heat gun would work also. This is to make sure no moisture is in the metal. The instructions say to spray a light fog on the radius first, then the rest of the pipe. I found that this left dry spots that when the over spray from spraying the rest of the pipe, left a bumpy, orange peel like texture. I found that by painting like I normally paint a part it work better. I kept a wetness to all of the area I was working on then moved down the pipe. Which kept the coating smooth looking and the finished results were far better.
But remember not to get it to thick.
I used an airbrush. I think a touchup gun may be too large to use. At least for me. Seeing that the pipes were pre-heated the coating starts to dry quickly. I hung the pipes from a wire so I could get 360 degrees around them. This let me start at the top and work my way down and around. I did spray the hard to get to areas first, of the section I was working on. Like where the pipe tubes come together as a group. Continue until the header is totally coated. The coating should be a .001" to .0015" thick. I couldn't mike it so I just put on a medium paint type thickness. The coating is now a light green color. The part now needs to be heated to about 150 degrees in an oven to dry. (10 min) The dry coating is a light gray. Then the part needs to be baked at 500 degrees for one hour. No you don't have to baste.
I used the household oven. Here's how. Seeing the oven door wouldn't close with the pipe in there. I extended the oven door. I put the pipe in the stove from rear corner to the opposite front corner. I wired the front corner to hang up to the top of the open end of the oven. I closed the door as far a possible. This will leave a tri-angle shape for the sides and a longer rectangle opening on top. I then cut and formed the oven pans to the tri-angles and made them about 1 _" thick. I stuffed them with the insulation. I did the same for the top opening. The oven pans are like aluminum pie pans, very easy to bend. This was also wrapped with aluminum foil to help seal on the oven and door areas. Of coarse you want to have this done prior to painting the pipe. Make sure that any oven switches (light inside) get insulated from the heat or they kinda melt. Make sure they have foil around them and are exposed to the outside of the stove if you can. I put an oven pan on the floor of the oven just in case.
There were no toxic type fumes or smells. Yes there was a baked surface smell but it wasn't that strong. I would try to close off the kitchen and open a window. After baking at 500 degrees for an hour let cool, do not quench. There will be a light gray /dirty white color on the pipe. Now take some "00" steel wool or medium scotch brite pads and start to sand the surface. What will appear will be a metallic coating. Which looks a lot like the "Jet Coatings", that you pay big $$s for, on the outside of your pipes. If you had a car undercoating type spray wand I'm sure you could also paint the inside. This is very similar to powder coating because the coating is made up of aluminum powder and phosphate/chromic solution. You then can keep sanding until they are polished or close to it.
There are several aspects I like about this type of coating. You can coat just about anything that can withstand 500 degrees (not internal engine parts). Also to touch up a nick in the coating, for headers, is warm engine, touch up then drive. This coating is very tuff but will scratch or chip if hit hard enough with some thing hard. Like a wrench when tightening the header bolts. The coating has been tested to a continuous 1200 degrees. It won't turn color and keeps the heat inside the pipe vs. the engine compartment. It can be cleaned up and thinned with water. Unless it dries first, so be careful about spillage.
Porsche ceramic exhaust
http://brentwoodrocketscience.com/r2/r2.htm
I acquired a 3.2 liter engine last year for the RSR project which was ulitmately sold as a rolling chassis. After some difficulty trying to sell the 3.2 longblock, it hit me one day...Why not build it and use it. After all, my 72' 911 chassis is pre-emissions so all the stops could be pulled out for a little hotter engine.
So, through word of mouth the 2.7 built almost 2 years (and 3,000 miles) ago is finding a home in a nicely done 914-6.
Nice mention of ceramic exhaust on Porsche.
I acquired a 3.2 liter engine last year for the RSR project which was ulitmately sold as a rolling chassis. After some difficulty trying to sell the 3.2 longblock, it hit me one day...Why not build it and use it. After all, my 72' 911 chassis is pre-emissions so all the stops could be pulled out for a little hotter engine.
So, through word of mouth the 2.7 built almost 2 years (and 3,000 miles) ago is finding a home in a nicely done 914-6.
Nice mention of ceramic exhaust on Porsche.
Pictures and albums about Ceramic headers published in rides
http://www.webshots.com/explains/rides/ceramic-headers.html
Interesting write up here.
New Extractors [Headers for the boys in the USA]published by camsvette in corvettes on 2005-01-03 last update on 2005-06-11The extractors had to be custome made with the fitting of the new Rack And Pinion Steering. All pipes will be ceramic coated when finishedKeywords: corvette, headers, corvette exhaust, headers, ceramic headers, ceramic exhaust
Interesting write up here.
New Extractors [Headers for the boys in the USA]published by camsvette in corvettes on 2005-01-03 last update on 2005-06-11The extractors had to be custome made with the fitting of the new Rack And Pinion Steering. All pipes will be ceramic coated when finishedKeywords: corvette, headers, corvette exhaust, headers, ceramic headers, ceramic exhaust
Johannesburg - June 2005
CBC2 Powerkote Coats Polo Components for Engen VW Cup
Johannesburg - June 2005 - CBC2 Powerkote has successfully applied its high temperature microfilm ceramic coatings to the exhaust manifolds of the 35 cars participating in the Engen VW Cup, part of the national SA Championship Power Tour.
The racing cars were experiencing several heat related problems during the race. Ian Pepper, a driver in the series, commented, "Our vehicles were excessively hot under the bonnet. The oil was running thin; the brake fluid tended to boil during the race, and the clutch fluid disappeared."
"We approached Powerkote to assist us to find a solution to these overheating problems, as well as to reduce the high temperature in the passenger compartments."
Powerkote applied its high temperature thermal barrier coating to all the exhaust manifolds of the 35 vehicles, which not only corrosion-protected the parts, but retained the heat within the manifold or header. This resulted in performance benefits as the exhaust gas velocity was accelerated, which reduced both back pressure and fuel contamination due to reversion.
The surface temperature of the manifold was also reduced substantially, which resulted in minimising the overall heat generated to the passenger compartment, as well as surrounding parts, such as alternators and starters. A secondary benefit was the reduction of heat drawn in through the carburettor.
Pepper added, "The ceramic coating reduced the heat up to 50%, which allowed the vehicles to run more consistently at optimum temperatures, which improved our overall performance."
The Engen VW Cup, which has been running for 9 years, is a popular series as all vehicles have identical specifications which keeps the development costs affordable, and ensures that the playing fields are level, so that the focus is on the drivers' skills.
Powerkote Cape recently sponsored Powerflow's VW Polo by coating the exhaust manifold, pistons and intake manifold for the race in the regional GTi challenge in the Western Cape.
Vehicle owner, Dick Bate, said, "The coating decreased the operating temperature of the engine, particularly the intake manifold, resulting in colder air and more consistent power, which is critical for racing conditions.
Johannesburg - June 2005 - CBC2 Powerkote has successfully applied its high temperature microfilm ceramic coatings to the exhaust manifolds of the 35 cars participating in the Engen VW Cup, part of the national SA Championship Power Tour.
The racing cars were experiencing several heat related problems during the race. Ian Pepper, a driver in the series, commented, "Our vehicles were excessively hot under the bonnet. The oil was running thin; the brake fluid tended to boil during the race, and the clutch fluid disappeared."
"We approached Powerkote to assist us to find a solution to these overheating problems, as well as to reduce the high temperature in the passenger compartments."
Powerkote applied its high temperature thermal barrier coating to all the exhaust manifolds of the 35 vehicles, which not only corrosion-protected the parts, but retained the heat within the manifold or header. This resulted in performance benefits as the exhaust gas velocity was accelerated, which reduced both back pressure and fuel contamination due to reversion.
The surface temperature of the manifold was also reduced substantially, which resulted in minimising the overall heat generated to the passenger compartment, as well as surrounding parts, such as alternators and starters. A secondary benefit was the reduction of heat drawn in through the carburettor.
Pepper added, "The ceramic coating reduced the heat up to 50%, which allowed the vehicles to run more consistently at optimum temperatures, which improved our overall performance."
The Engen VW Cup, which has been running for 9 years, is a popular series as all vehicles have identical specifications which keeps the development costs affordable, and ensures that the playing fields are level, so that the focus is on the drivers' skills.
Powerkote Cape recently sponsored Powerflow's VW Polo by coating the exhaust manifold, pistons and intake manifold for the race in the regional GTi challenge in the Western Cape.
Vehicle owner, Dick Bate, said, "The coating decreased the operating temperature of the engine, particularly the intake manifold, resulting in colder air and more consistent power, which is critical for racing conditions.
Black Satin Results
BHK Results
The following comes from
Chuck McClellan, Orlando, Fl.
So far, I have coated my down pipe and test pipe on my '87 Grand National with the Black Satin. The down pipe temps average 1500-1700 degrees. I recently went to the local drag way and couldn't believe the difference in my engine bay temps compared to other Grand Nationals after each run. My car seemed to cool down quicker and run cooler than before. Everyone thought the BHK would peel off as soon as the DP (Down Pipe) got warm but I have put over 100 miles on the car and its still looks great. I have several local club members wanting to get their DPs and headers coated after seeing mine.
As Dave indicates Black Satin works extremely well.
The following comes from
Chuck McClellan, Orlando, Fl.
So far, I have coated my down pipe and test pipe on my '87 Grand National with the Black Satin. The down pipe temps average 1500-1700 degrees. I recently went to the local drag way and couldn't believe the difference in my engine bay temps compared to other Grand Nationals after each run. My car seemed to cool down quicker and run cooler than before. Everyone thought the BHK would peel off as soon as the DP (Down Pipe) got warm but I have put over 100 miles on the car and its still looks great. I have several local club members wanting to get their DPs and headers coated after seeing mine.
As Dave indicates Black Satin works extremely well.
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