If you're not worried about looks, the why not just get the normal headers and spray them with high-temp coating or wrap them up? I know that there are some clearance issues with Pacesetters but would wrap make enough of a difference to inhibit its use on our trucks?
Wrapping headers usually voids the warranty. In addition to holding moisture, it holds alot more heat in, which can affect the intergity of the headers. I've seen them fall apart...
I'll never buy coated headers, either. I've had two sets. One set from Ford Racing, and one set from BBK. Coated inside and out (and not cheap, either), and they both rusted a little. One car was a daily driver, the other was not.
I will only buy stainless headers (409 or 304) from now on. My Ram has 409 JBA shorties. They discolor (blue and such), and they oxidize a little, but they don't rust.
Most high end headers are only available in stainless. I am contemplating some Kook's long tubes for my new 5.0... and I don't believe they even offer them coated, which is fine with me.
Coated headers are not ideal for street cars IMO. All the stones and junk kicked up off the road will chip the coating, ultimately resulting in rusty headers. If it's a hobby car that doesn't get driven much, sure, coated headers are fine. Stainless steel is the way to go with headers on a vehicle that gets driven a lot(everyday).
Both my truck and car have stainless headers, and I love them. If you're cost shopping buy the OBX longtubes from eBay, I have them on my truck and I think they're a great bargain.
If your dead set on getting some cooler headers, buy the OBX headers and have them coated. It's like $250 iirc.
Virtually all stainless steel will rust. Everyone seems to think that 409 stainless steel won't rust, but it's not true. 409 is a metal alloy (Iron/Chromium); the chromium adds a passive resistance to the oxidizing process called chromium oxide, but surface rust will form, period. While surface rust will form, the chromium blocks further corrosion and won't allow the rust to spread to the stainless steel's inner metal. 409 is one of the cheapest types of stainless steel, which is why it's used in automobile exhaust systems. Stainless steel doesn't rust as eaisily as steel, but it's nothing more than corrosion-resistant steel.
As far as header wrap goes, I agree with the above posts; header wrap will trap water/moisture, which will accelerate corrosion. Plus, header wrap is primarily designed for racing applications because it traps most of the heat, which can lead to warping the header. If you're really concerned about corrosion, get the headers coated inside-and-out like mentiioned above. Ceramic coating is really tough. I have ceramic coated headers on my Mustang, and they still look brand new after 2-years (daily driver).
I bought painted headers hedman headers, I was not willing to fork over the extra hundreds for coated ones. Its not worth it imo, even some of my buddies who have cars that they race don't bother spending the extra for coating, discoloration and surface rust is not big deal.
Wrapped headers are only good on race only cars. I have ceramic coated headers that are 10 years old on a street car and they look great. If I see any sign of stain, I use mothers aluminum mag cleaner and they look good again. The coating I had done was called cermachrome, and I also had the interior heat coating done.
Ceramic Coating is only as good as the application. A guy down the road does it, one of the few to do it in all of Canada. He puts a 20 year guarantee on headers.
High Tech Coatings Ceramic Header Coating is a Patented Metal filled ceramically bonded inorganic coating that is non-electrostaticly applied and cured at high temperature. This coating was originally designed to coat turbine blades in jet engines, thus the common name for these coatings are Jet coatings. The coating is applied in a TEN STEP process that takes approximately 12 hours from start to finish. At High Tech Coatings we do not pretend to have some secret formula we simply buy our coating from the company that holds the patent for the coating and has been in the business of making and supplying these coatings for more than 30 years. This coating meets several military specifications and has been in use protecting jet engine parts for decades. Our supplier has more experience with this coating in severe environments (up to 1600°) than many other companies can even dream of.
The fully polished exterior finish is bright and has a chrome-like luster that will NOT turn blue like chrome and outperforms chrome by multiples of ten in accelerated corrosion testing.
We also now use a special 2000 degree interior coating on all headers and exhaust manifolds. Most other companies charge extra for this ultra high temperature coating, if they offer it all, but we do it free. It is the best we have found for inside coating so why would we use any thing else?
Most people are familiar with the performance improvements claimed by the other guys, and anything that their coating will do, ours will do and more. We don't make wild claims there is no proof of, improvements vary from engine to engine and car to car but is not uncommon to see a temperature reduction on the outside of the header in the 30 to 40% range
The biggest gain is accomplished via coating of the inside of the tubes using a process that is rather low-tech but the most cost effective way to ensure complete coverage. This interior coating keeps the hot gases flowing faster and reduces corrosion on the inside of the tubes for consistent performance.
LOOKS GREAT, PROTECTS FROM CORROSION, IMPROVES PERFORMANCE, how can you live without it?
Great information. I remember back in the 70's guys were distroying their headers in less than a month on the street with wrap.
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