Just out of curiousity, how important is it to have headers coated? I don't drive my firebird in rain or snow so is it worth coating them? Not worried about how they look just want them to work.

 

Now people say it reduces heat, for the price of the coating I will endure any additional heat if any. A 350 generates heat anyway. And for appeareance who cares, you can't see them anyways. One note, I have Stainless Steel SLP headers so I am not concered about rust. Regular steel headers is another mater
with rust.

 

You wil have to have some form of coating weather you like it or not on mild steel headers otherwise, after the 1st run, they will start to rust.
As far as seeing them, take a realistic angle shot and yes, they are plainly visable......

 

They help keep the exterior of the primaries cool which in turn keeps heat out of your engine bay and away from crutial stuff that needs to stay cool. Plus they just look down right spiffy.

 

:rockon:

 

I'm guessing engine paint won't stand up to the heat? What about heat wrap, is that meant to replace coating or are you meant to have both?

By the way Shifty, is that brace custom built? Looks awesome.

 

Stay away from wraps. They can keep too much heat in and warp the hedder or collect oil and funk and possible start a fire down the road. Engine paint will not stand up. Even chrome will not stand up. Ceramic coating is where it is at. It is one of the few materials out there that can take the intense heat cycling a hedder goes through.

The brace is Edelbrocks TBI unit.

 

Engine paint most likely will not, but you can do a search... there are several products out there that will hold up (better in places that do not encounter salt.... road or sea). Eastwood company makes some, Techline makes some, I am currently using VHT header paint. Nothing will hold up like a professional coating, but these alternatives can be several hundred bucks cheaper. I've never used header wrap, but some say that it accelerates the rusting out of your headers due to retaining moisture.

 

I'll definitly look into that header paint, the ceramic coating is pretty pricey and I'm trying to spend my money the best I can since I don't have a lot. Although I'm gonna have to add that TBI brace to my wish list...didn't know anyone made one for us TBI guys.

 

Has anyone ever powdercoated their headers? That should withstand the heat and could give them a nice look.

 

Powder coating is a plastic coating and will melt as soon as the engine fires up.
A ceramic coating is your best bet. You'll pay more but the results are well worth it. VHT paints don't work either since you have to cure them at high temperature in an oven for a few hours and most people don't have the means to do that. I did my other car's manifold with VHT and it held to the temperature but it started flaking off. For longevity go with the ceramic coating. Here are two shots of mine before and after the Jet Hot Coating:

http://home.earthlink.net/~ozvresto/...ng-wide-rt.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~ozvresto/...pl-engine2.jpg

-Ozzy

 

Just like I said who can see your Headers, all you want is performance. For rust free buy stainless steel.and save the money on expensive coatings.

 

Besides looks thats why you want the coating though.

 

Powder coating is not a plastic coating and it will hold up to the heat. It is applied to the metal at about 600 degrees. The paint is negativly charged and the metal is positivly charged it adheres with no runs and a perfect finish. I am a professional painter at a metal fabrication shop. We have parts sent to be powder coated all the time it holds up better than the 1200 degree high temp paint we use sometimes and that stuff is almost 200.00 dollars a gallon. The price to get shorty headers coated is around 75.00 dollars.

 

Had Jet-Hot done to my Hookers over a year ago and still look sharp

 

my coated ones right from slp looked good for awhile but are turning brown. so they definitely dont look sharp anymore but hopefully still keep the heat down.