Ceramic coating stainless shorties...

[IGO 202]

I just received my new Kooks shorties and I'm trying to decide if it would be worth ceramic coating them. Have any of you folks coated yours?

I've had a set of coated Hookers (mild steel) headers on my BB Malibu for 17 years and they still look good but didn't know if coating stainless is good or bad.
I do know that it will help with under the hood temps, that's the only reason I'm considering it before installing them.

I've found some old post but nothing helped.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[FiveOhJoe]

I thing it's always a great idea to coat them if you can. There are no downsides, just benefits.

 

[IGO 202]

Thanks Joe.

I remember when I had our 'Vette someone on the forum had problems with the coating sticking to the stainless. Never could find out if that was an isolated case due to a not-so-good coverage, poor prepping, etc.

Am hoping some guys who've done it will chime in with their results & experiences.

Dan

 

[IGO 202]

No one?
Dan

 

[Nocturnal'14]

Whats the cost to have them coated....
that info would help for the "Wold it be worth it" question.
:shrug:

 

[csb85]

I had my kooks long tube headers coated when I ordered them. They were coated by airborn coatings which was recommended over jet hot from the place I order from. I think it was $140 to get them coated.

 

[grnenvy]

I was going to send mine out but didn't want the down time. I would do if u have the time.

 

[IGO 202]

Local shop that does my powdercoating told me $150 OTD to ceramic coat my shorties.

 

[CCPcoatings.com]

Ceramic Coating Stainless Steel Headers

I just received my new Kooks shorties and I'm trying to decide if it would be worth ceramic coating them. Have any of you folks coated yours?

I've had a set of coated Hookers (mild steel) headers on my BB Malibu for 17 years and they still look good but didn't know if coating stainless is good or bad.
I do know that it will help with under the hood temps, that's the only reason I'm considering it before installing them.

I've found some old post but nothing helped.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Thanks,
Dan

It makes absolutely NO difference whether your headers are Stainless steel, mild steel, cast iron, aluminum or anything in between. Pretty much any substrate a header can be constructed from can also be ceramic coated. This also goes for new and used material, it doesn't matter so long as your coater of choice has experience with these parts.

You didn't mention what color Ceramic you were looking, so I will offer you this warning, it is NOT advised to use a traditional Bright / Polished Ceramic on a shorty header, particularly a SS shorty header. You're best choice is a High Temp Ceramic in a short header application like yours. The reason for this is simply due to the short primary length. On a "properly tuned" engine with traditional long tube headers it is common for the first 5"-10" of primary to "dull slightly" from the flame front. In that your total primary length is about equal to that, your headers will lose their "polish" almost immediately in most cases. Under extreme conditions you'll actually put them in failure mode. Look at any bright ceramic coated shorty from BBK,JBA or SVT that has been in service for any period of time and you'll be hard pressed to tell whether they were even coated. Use a good High Temp Ceramic and you can glow them red hot without issue.

It should go without saying that you can NOT use bright ceramic coating in any turbo or supercharged application either....... Too lean or too fat conditions are not the friend of bright ceramic coatings........