We figured a set of off-the-shelf Hooker headers would be more than suitable for our 1965 Mustang vintage racer, but Cobra Automotive’s Curt Vogt recommended having them professionally coated. Don’t just rely on the factory finish, he said.
Swain Tech Coatings has been coating exhaust headers and parts for decades, so we reached out. “There are two main types …
There are times some folks will see spike- or bead-like growths on the surface of the coating, and even times when the outermost layer can fracture.
Can confirm. It sure looks like a failing coating when you see it, including chunks coming off.
I found DEI Floor and Tunnel insulation to be more effective at managing heat in the tunnel of my track V8 Miata. Even with White Lightning on the headers and exhaust, I was melting the adhesive backing of the Cool-it insulation in the cockpit. I measured a tunnel surface temp of 196F and the heel of my driving shoe at 147F using my tire pyrometer.
Adding the Floor and Tunnel on the inner surfaces of the tunnel helped quite a bit. I haven't repeated the pyrometer test but I can put my hand flat on the tunnel.
question not about coatings but about headers themselves: why not the baller stepped tri-Y headers from Cobra Automotive? oh wait, i think i smell a bolt-on comparison cooking. and i approve.
That would be an interesting comparison, because tri-Ys and 4-1s have different inherent characteristics. These things look to have pretty long primaries.
The lack of ACTUAL testing of the temp on these products is very disturbing.
GRM you could EASILY set up a before and after test.
#1 heat gun aimed down the port. let run to minutes to stabilize the temp.
Take readings as it heated up and cooled down. multiple locations.
Coat the part.
heat gun aimed down the port. let run to minutes to stabilize the temp.
Take readings as it heated up and cooled down. multiple locations.
Simple test.
how about comparing to straight black spray paint. or silver paint.
un coated? wrapped?
I have always been intersted in black vs silver intercoolers and radiators. could easily cover many many points with some simple day long temp reading tests. .
In reply to masterjr33 :
We love some comparison tests, but the car isn't actually together at this point. Soon, though, it will roar to life.
Ahhh, so you are saying you need two sets of headers. One coated and one un-coated so you can run back to back tests. lol
I really liked my jethot coating (inside and out) experience but the reality of their off-road application readyness is a total lie. Their off-road capable ceramic coating works in a desert on some trophy truck perhaps but one barely wet rally and I had it flaking off in section before the 1st loop was finished.
In reply to Noddaz :
Yes. Although we had to modify these before fitting them.
In reply to Tim Suddard :
I used their coatings on my Black Jack special. I know I was an early user. 1980's?
Go to the Packard Museum and if the hood is open you'll see those headers with their coatings still intact. Yes it cools things down.
Swain tech coatings sponsored my undergrads schools formula and baja car. Great guys.
Just to update you guys. We have tested before and after header temps and it was close to 100 degrees and he box of DEI stuff showed up yesterday. We will cover heat management in future installments.
In reply to masterjr33 :
Before I started selling "heat tape" in 1989 I conducted several dyno tests with Esslinger Engineering on the Ford Lima 2300cc we had built for the SCCA Magazine project car construction and to run NASPORT and SCCA GT3.
Remember that the wrapping material currently sold is 1/16-inch; mine was 1/8-inch. The first dyno pass (again with the thicker tape) showed no appreciable power improvement. We again wrapped the headers with a second layer, and power became visible throughout the power range. We then wrapped the headers with a third layer and an improvement of about 4% became visible throughout the power curve with a few hundred RPM of extra power.
Wrapping the headers to where you gain power will cause the tubes to heat up. We found no problems with thick stainless steel headers. Some race cars like Formula Fords (at least in those days) used thin header tubes to save weight but at a loss of power from heat dissipation. FF cars that used the tape showed performance improvements but at the cost of cracked headers. Moreover, with the tape available today, you would need six layers on a four-cylinder engine. That would be 12 rolls at 50 feet each.
Racers that reported the most noticeable amount of performance were those with stock or close to stock engines like FF, FV, four-stroke kart engines and others like 6-cylinder cars for circle track.
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