i have had my headers for about a month now, they are flowtechs and had that shipping paint stuff when i got them and it is supposed to burn off after you drive it a while, well iv drivin the car almost every day and about twice a week i drove it for like 2 hours at a single time and all the paint still isnt melted off and you can smell it every once in a while, and outside you can really smell it. they are also have a bunch of powder stuff on them, am i supposed to wipe them down or somethin? cause this paint just isnt coming off! also should i be able to smell the exhaust when i am sitting at a stop, roll down my window, and stick my head out the window? you can deffinately smell it but im no sure if you should be able to do that, it smells a little gassy but not bad, and my carb is set perfectly so i know its not that.

 

It can take quite a while for all the paint to stop burning and smelling. I wouldn't worry about that. As for the exhaust smell, you may have a leak somewhere. Maybe check around at the collectors and the cat.

 

i removed the cat and welded in a strait pipe, would that make a difference? im thinking if its an exhaust leak then its probably someplace on the y-pipe but wouldnt i hear it?

 

Having no cat does make the exhaust noticable stronger smelling. In that case, you could just be smelling the stronger fumes from the back of the car. Chances are you would hear an exhaust leak, although they can be small enough that you wouldn't really notice. Really small ones wouldn't smell all that much though, would they? I wouldn't worry about it. I'm guessing you are smelling the exhaust from the tailpipe(s) (and the burning paint).

 

yes the gassy smell is coming because you don't have your cat, what does your cat do? its supposed to burn off unburnt fuel that wasnt burned in the combustion chamber before it gets to the tailpipes, therefore reducing emissions. If that unburned fuel isnt being burned its gonna smell gassier.

 

forgot to add...not all gas that goes through the combustion chambers is burned, if we had perfect combustion, we would have 50,000hp engines getting 20mpg, not literraly but you get the idea.

 

yep they're all right.........
I had my cat cut out last summer And I knowticed I had a fumes smely car sence then, but Last month when I put on my flowtechs Its the same smelly fumes so that is rear exhast your smelling. But my flowtechs are burning there paint off too,,,,and I can smell that too....and mine are giving off a pink colored powder. Im not worried Im going to let them burn off for a summer then durring the winter I'll "ceramic coat in a can" them my self. And if im real anbitous ill take them off and bake em in the oven. Oh yah becarefull nothing is touching them cause that may be buring too and youll never knowtice cause your getting a burning smeel anyhow......so take a look close I actualy had to reroot a power wire going to the starter cause it was burning on the header.

 

thanks guys, im glad to hear that i dont have a problem! my flowtechs have a ton of powder stuff on them but i wiped alot of it off and there is still alot of paint so it will probably be a long time before it melts off, ill probably drive it all this summer adn then this winter when i put it up ill pull off the headers and coat and bake em, check y for leaks and put on a 3 inch i-pipe all at once