I've searched the archives, and read that ceramic coating on headers will help keep the heat from escaping from the header, and pushed on down the pipes.
Has anyone had this done? Is it a mod worth doing?
I had my headers ceramic coated because they were starting to look pretty shoddy. Whether or not it will make a big difference in performance won't be known until I dyno the bike later in the year.
SAFE-T, Jan 25 2005, 07:18 AMHaven't put any miles on them yet, but they look great. Very close to chrome, but not as reflective and won't change color like chrome does.
I used ceramic based aluminum rattle can, then baked them in a big oven (Why's my bacon taste funny?). The finish worked well for the first season, but is starting to corrode through in some spots. Not worth doing the cheap way, due to PIA factor. But the silver finish looks cool. Probably worth doing in Jet-Hot.
On my VTR, I had the headers coated by Performance Coatings. Not very expensive and seemingly pretty effective as a thermal barrier. It was a great cosmetic upgrade as well but the headers were hanging out in the open on that bike. I haven't had my VFR long enough to figure if the right foot gets hot from the headers but that might be a legit application if the headers cook that foot.
I recently had my header ceramic coated in satin black (sorry SAFE-T) and finally installed them tonight. As you can see in the before and after photos, the coating makes a big difference. I've not yet fired her up to check pipe temps, but anything can help. Maybe it will contain some of the heat flowing around the R/R.
Heat from the exhaust pipes use to blister my thighs on hot days... then I wrapped the exhaust pipes in Kevlar to shield my skin... it worked so well that I offer to wrap every RC45 that comes through the Busy Little Shop...
Header wrap is definitely effective in containing heat but other board members have noted it needs to be kept dry, otherwise it traps moisture against the pipe and mungs them up pretty bad.
The satin black coating is rated to 2000 degrees F, so it should at least hold up better than the factory finish, which was totally burned off mine - the rear header pipes looked 20 yrs. old when I took them in :(
SAFE-T, Mar 8 2005, 09:37 PMHeader wrap is definitely effective in containing heat but other board members have noted it needs to be kept dry, otherwise it traps moisture against the pipe and mungs them up pretty bad.
If you store the vehicle with a wrapped header pipes in a moist enviroment, the header wraps will retain moisture in the moisture in the air, since your vehicle is not running and the headers are cold.
I haven't posted much, but i want to share this. I am aslo in the process of having the stock headpipe coated, but i noticed some room for improvement first. I'll try and attach the pics, but i cleaned up the welds at the flanges, should help alittle. Also if you gettting a hot right foot try some adhesive thermal barrier on the inside of that little gray cover down by the footpeg, that made a big difference!
My '94 came with a coated header pipe, not sure what process. After the three years that I have had it, it still looks great. One of the front pipes got a chip on it but I have let it go for 2 years without an noticible increase in size/corrosion. Probably have that pipe recoated next winter.
Course I would trade it all for a two bros. header....
End of thread · 24 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 30 Apr 2005
