Originally posted by: OS
Originally posted by: TechnoKid
Originally posted by: OS
heh, i think this thread answers my own question of if I want to get a ceramic coated or stainless steel header.
You should also think about under hood temps. Stainless lets off a lot more heat than ceramic. But ceramic is a lot better than plain nickel chrome. If the stainless header isn't absolutly clean during installation, it will discolor when it heats up. If anything, get your headers jet hotted.
Do you recommend coating stainless to reduce under hood temperatures?
We built a custom set of headers for a T-70 Lola that was being converted into a ?street? car. Due to the tight confines of the engine bay, the owner wanted to try coating the headers to reduce the under hood temps. The owner was fanatical about measuring and recording all engine operating data-he had thermocouples on everything! After coating, he did not see one degree change in the under hood temps.
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Also, using stainless steel has basically the same effect as coatings on mild-steel headers.
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I'm not sure it actually makes a difference. Alot of people say that SS heats up more, but I wonder how many of those people have used both in similar cars. I talked to one guy on honda-tech.com who runs a shop, gone through several sets and he says there's not much difference in heat.
This situation is kind of annoying because it goes both ways. If one was a head and shoulder above the other, I would have just bought one like a year ago instead of sitting on the side, waiting and looking.
As for the look, I don't really care if it discolors or not. The header on my car is in the back of the engine bay facing the firewall so no one can see anything anyways.