Got My OBX Headers Today

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Wow! These things look awesome. Very nice welds. Now, onto the Jet Hot Coating and some of Jerry's exhaust gaskets.

[secondchance]

I know exactly what you mean. Yes-OBX looks great, Jet Hot coating looks and their service is outstanding (I dealt w/ Randy) and Jerry's gasket was perfect!
Make sure you have tip-tube relocation bracket and w/ OBX you probably don't need passenger side 02 sensor extension.:cheers:

[USAFPILOT]

you are in for some serious fun

what's the tip tube?

[Corbusa]

I don't believe anything without pictures:)

[secondchance]

you are in for some serious fun

what's the tip tube?

I meant dip-tube as in dipstick.

[Torchred96]

May I ask how much the jet hot coating costs? The web site says 180-350..which is quite a range.
thanks

[secondchance]

For obx it was $350 plus $25 or $35 extra because OBX has extra pieces. I cant remember exactly what the extra was. Plus shipping.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Had to open the box right inside the front door. The welds were really nice. Almost too pretty to coat. :-D
http://i39.tinypic.com/xfe14j.jpg

[Corbusa]

Sweet !!! I'll get there someday...
? what is the purpose of the jet coating?

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Sweet !!! I'll get there someday...
? what is the purpose of the jet coating?


Heat reduction

[Corbusa]

Thanks ..

[tomtom72]

Notto be a wise guy. The coating is for heat reduction by way of keeping the heat energy in the exhaust gas stream. As a result of that the motor bay has less heat transmitted to it from the exhaust headers. You get two benefits from this. Our air filter gets a bit cooler to deliver to the motor, and by keeping the heat inside the exhaust system, the gas has better velocity because it loose less energy so you get better scavenging and better breathing.

Don't skimp on the coating. Don't get the ones that look pretty. Those generally don't do much. The ones that look ugly, well it's because they're real ceramic and they work, but they cost more. You can paint the ugly coatings, the ones that actually work, with any hi-heat resistant paint also.

sorry for the hi-jack Brett!:o

:cheers:
Tom

[ScottZ95ZR1]

I sent mine to Swain Tech and would do so again: http://www.swaintech.com/store.asp?pid=10969

[Torchred96]

Scott.

For comparison, do you mind letting us know how much it cost to have the headers coated?

Thanks
sam

[ScottZ95ZR1]

Cost me $325 and shipping, Sam.

[Torchred96]

Cool, thanks..Just one more thing that I wish I didn't know about that's gonna cost me in the near future.

Who said knowledge is power??? Knowledge make you broke!

[Blue Flame Restorations]

I used Jet Hot in the past and was happy with them though. Both are probably fairly equal but after driving Scott's car and seeing what his headers actually look like, I think I'll go Swaintech as well.

[FU]

Swain coating header's actually reduce underhood temperature.

[Corbusa]

I have a few questions.. Are all ZR headers stainless? ( i would prefer Stainless but when the times comes it will depend on budget ) , can they coat regular steel headers? I had a pair of Headman that were over 15 yrs. old and are still on the truck I sold a few years ago.. They were plain old cheapies. When they were hot I would rub the old motor oil on them , to help prevent rust .. It must work...
I'm no Einstein , So I'm asking .But since the heat is trapped inside the coated headers wouldnt that raise the cylinder temps.? I mean if its coated and the ambeint temp.is lower , then isnt the temps. inside the headers higher? I understand what some of you are saying about cooler air outside , would help lower the temps. inside. I'm just trying to see it from both angles.. So please learn me :)

[USAFPILOT]

I think so...but not all stainless is not the same. Do a little reading over at stainless works.

[XfireZ51]

Retaining heat in the exhaust slows energy loss. The
more energy on the exhaust the faster it moves out.
Thus helps with scavenging the cylinder drawing spent gasses out and helping to fill cylinder with intake charge faster. At top end this becomes more important because there is very little time for valves to be open.

[tomtom72]

I have a few questions.. Are all ZR headers stainless? ( i would prefer Stainless but when the times comes it will depend on budget ) , can they coat regular steel headers? I had a pair of Headman that were over 15 yrs. old and are still on the truck I sold a few years ago.. They were plain old cheapies. When they were hot I would rub the old motor oil on them , to help prevent rust .. It must work...
I'm no Einstein , So I'm asking .But since the heat is trapped inside the coated headers wouldnt that raise the cylinder temps.? I mean if its coated and the ambeint temp.is lower , then isnt the temps. inside the headers higher? I understand what some of you are saying about cooler air outside , would help lower the temps. inside. I'm just trying to see it from both angles.. So please learn me :)

The simple answer is no. The more involved answer is: if the gas stream looses heat it slows down. Then it backs up the flow due to loss of speed. Then that back up keeps the heat closer to the cylinder head creating a "blockage" area that backs up the intake flow and heats the incoming charge. The swaintech guys can coat any metal, and all s/s is not the same there are different alloys. I think maybe Carter could speak to that question. My only experience is with s/s in the marine environment. There it does matter what grade you use. Only thing that I know for sure ( not from any hands on time ) is that generally the higher the grade s/s the more careful the welding has to be from controlling the welding environment aspect, and the harder it is to dress the welds after.
:cheers:
Tom

[Shrek]

Brett, I ordered a set online last night. What gaskets come with them? Or should I order a set from Jerry's?

Jeff

[secondchance]

Brett, I ordered a set online last night. What gaskets come with them? Or should I order a set from Jerry's?

Jeff

I would order a set from Jerry. Gaskets that came w/ the OBX are indiviual gasket per exhaust port - 8 small gaskets. These would be a major pain to use.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

I would order a set from Jerry. Gaskets that came w/ the OBX are indiviual gasket per exhaust port - 8 small gaskets. These would be a major pain to use.


Yep, the small ones were in the box. I'll be ordering from Jerry as well.

[Shrek]

I would order a set from Jerry. Gaskets that came w/ the OBX are indiviual gasket per exhaust port - 8 small gaskets. These would be a major pain to use.


Yep, the small ones were in the box. I'll be ordering from Jerry as well.

THANKS GUYS!!!:cheers:

Just wanted make sure. Now I can add them to the list of gaskets I'm ordering for the injector housing/plenum pull. Getting ready to pull the plenum again and yank out the secondary stuff.

[efnfast]

Thanks guys, you're answering all my questions about which headers to buy.

[Aurora40]

I am in no way an expert... But exhaust slows down as it cools because it doesn't need to flow as fast. As it cools, the volume the gas takes up is reduced, so it can move slower and still move the same mass per unit time.

I'd tend to think the more heat you could shed in the pipes, the less of a restriction any fixed-size piping becomes. And I'd think the frictional resistance to flow would be less at lower speeds.

I thought the main reason for coating headers is that they are generally much closer to wires and other things under the hood, and you don't want to fry/burn those things.

[XfireZ51]

The ceramic coating also helps in the functioning of the O2 sensor. In most cases, locating the sensor in the collector typically is further from the exhaust port than stock. Even tho the O2 is heated, keeping the exhaust hot longer and further downstream also helps with the accuracy of the sensor.
Keeping up velocity of exhaust gases helps with the scavenging effect providing a slight "turbo" effect to the intake charge.

[Paul Workman]

Keeping up velocity of exhaust gases helps with the scavenging effect providing a slight "turbo" effect to the intake charge.

Bob is right...

And, is exhaust scavenging an issue with the (4-valve head) LT5 in particular?

If someone believes that ceramic coating will improve performance (in our application), sans anything resembling actual data, I know where you can also buy a couple of those "Tornado" thingies to install in your air horn for a "big boost in hp and fuel economy!" :sign10:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x220/6PPC_bucket/Tornadoinductiongizmo.jpg

Aside from some other benefits e.g., less radiated heat, etc, I ain't buyin the notion that the coating has done anything to improve performance of the LT5, until proven otherwise.;)

As for appearance & less radiated heat to flooring and wires in close proximity...go for it. As for performance benefit, I'm not from Missouri, buy ya gonna have to show me!

I'm just sayin...;)

P.

[Kevin]

wouldn't less under hood heat lead to slightly better performance?

[Paul Workman]

wouldn't less under hood heat lead to slightly better performance?

Theoretically. But, how much affect is it really going to make in the ZR-1?

If you cut off coolant to the TB, it is amazing how cool the plenum runs. Will the cost of ceramic coating justify the difference in under hood temps? At WOT, the amount of heat contained in the aluminum is quickly absorbed by the mass of the incoming air flow - negating whatever heat there was at idle.

Yeah, I know racers will ice their motors between quarter mile runs. But, that has more to do with lowering water and thus combustion chamber temps to take advantage of some spark and fuel advantages afforded by the cooler motor.

All I'm saying is, "Let the buyer beware!". Automotive catalogs and car magazines are filled with gizmos and tricks that claim to enhance performance. Some work and some are BS, and some will actually hurt performance when applied without taking into account all the other pieces that are necessary to achieve good results.

As far as coating goes...

I didn't coat mine.
The difference to inside cabin temps are - far as I can tell - negligible.
My intake plenum runs cool after cutting off coolant to the TB.
I'm making 432 rwhp on stock cams.
I haven't seen any data to convince me coating my particular (SW) headers would do anything.
There's lots of snake oil out there....

Your mileage may vary.;)

P.

[secondchance]

[QUOTE=Paul Workman;129270]All I'm saying is, "Let the buyer beware!". Automotive catalogs and car magazines are filled with gizmos and tricks that claim to enhance performance. Some work and some are BS, and some will actually hurt performance when applied without taking into account all the other pieces that are necessary to achieve good results.
QUOTE]

I have my "Cyclonator" that generates cyclone action vortex resulting in fuel atomization that leads to 10% increase in power and 10% decrease in fuel consumption - $19.99!:dancing

[Paul Workman]

[QUOTE=Paul Workman;129270]All I'm saying is, "Let the buyer beware!". Automotive catalogs and car magazines are filled with gizmos and tricks that claim to enhance performance. Some work and some are BS, and some will actually hurt performance when applied without taking into account all the other pieces that are necessary to achieve good results.
QUOTE]

I have my "Cyclonator" that generates cyclone action vortex resulting in fuel atomization that leads to 10% increase in power and 10% decrease in fuel consumption - $19.99!:dancing

Oh... That must be a secret WAZOO approach to performance!:sign10:

P.