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Ceramic coating or wrap headers?

Old 01-02-2007, 01:56 PM
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Ceramic coating or wrap headers?

anyone wrapped them? I am getting ready to pull the trigger on the Downey's with the crossover pipe from Baja Concepts and I am trying to decide to go chrome and just wrap or get coated and wrap anyways? -- Does anyone know of a vendor on the site that sells the setup at a good deal. This is for a 3.0 by the way..

Kat
Old 01-02-2007, 02:04 PM
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Make sure you call them... the prices have changed drastically on the ones for my 1999 4runner from what is listed on the site. The price they quoted me is the same if you get them from anywhere else.
Old 01-02-2007, 02:08 PM
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That seems like some kind of false advertising - they can not do that!! OK, so they probably can if they want to. I have been emailing with their tech Justin and he told me he could do the price on the website.

Kat
Old 01-02-2007, 02:09 PM
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can you give me the email of the guy you been talking with? I want to get mine from them, but the college student cashflow is going to be a problem i think:-p
Old 01-02-2007, 02:37 PM
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I have wrapped headers in the past and I can give you some advise. Get the silicone spray to go over the wrap. I have done this to my personal headers on past cars and the Coast Guard does this on their 47' Motor Life Boats (the ones that flip over......yes I use to work on one......yes, I was lucky enough to never have flipped one). Anyway, if you wrap them twice (which manufacturers do not recommend) and then spray them with a few coats of the high temp silicone header spray you will see a huge difference in underhood temperatures.

Here is an example......ceramic coated headers you can touch just a few seconds after the engine is shut down.

If you wrap headers the way I have described, you can touch them while the engine is hot and running. I use to do this on the Detroit Diesels on our 47' all the time. These engines are supercharged and turbocharged. You can imagine the EGT on them.
Old 01-02-2007, 02:48 PM
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I have Downey's ceramic coated headers. Believe me, they get ˟˟˟˟˟˟ HOT! They've burned up a few things under my hood. I can't even imagine what kind of damage the chrome headers would cause under your hood. Next time I have mine off, I will wrap them. My advice: Ceramic coat and wrap.
Old 01-02-2007, 02:56 PM
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Wraping will void the warrenty on some headers... They hold moisute in and will cause premature failure due to rust... get the coated ones....
Old 01-02-2007, 02:57 PM
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Ok, its settled then -- Ceramic and Wrapped thanks -- Dan - do you have a brand recommendation because as everything else I know there is going to be bad brands
Old 01-02-2007, 02:58 PM
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AH64ID -- good point on the voiding of the warranty - although I think that I would rather void the warranty and destroy them then have the truck on fire....
Old 01-02-2007, 03:06 PM
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Originally Posted by ChickenLover
I have Downey's ceramic coated headers. Believe me, they get ˟˟˟˟˟˟ HOT! They've burned up a few things under my hood.
Yeup... The control cable that runs down the driver's side of my engine on the way to the tranny is brittle as all heck.
Old 01-02-2007, 03:12 PM
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are we able to relocate that cable you speak of?
Old 01-02-2007, 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by justinking060310
are we able to relocate that cable you speak of?
Umm, we're running different trucks/engines, so I'm not sure if it'll be a problem for you. For me, the short answer is "yes", it's possible to pin it up higher and thus get farther away from the downtube.

Keep in mind though that I'm a 3.4L running SC'd, with exhaust port temps of around 1500*. The run from my probe to the spot I'm thinking of is about 14-16" of pipe, so there's some cool down, but I'm sure the temps are still pretty dern high.

I can't believe that your 3.0 is gonna get anywhere near that hot, plus your engine compartment is a whole mess roomier than mine.


In retrospect, I think my comment was out of place. We're practically talking apples & oranges. My intent was only to comment on the heat dissipation of ceramic versus chrome.

Apologies for the confusion.
Old 01-02-2007, 03:28 PM
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Originally Posted by justinking060310
Ok, its settled then -- Ceramic and Wrapped thanks -- Dan - do you have a brand recommendation because as everything else I know there is going to be bad brands
Why do you think you need both? Headers are a tight fit as it is, so your going to make them bigger???

Also cermain coated headers will run much much much cooler than your OEM manifold, I would just run coated headers and be done with it...
Old 01-02-2007, 03:32 PM
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i have just been reading about the heat related issues on the 3.0 and was trying to come up with a way to alleviate them -- i know it is going to be tight - at least i have the heads off for the install -- and you are correct in your assumption that i do not know exactly how much room is in there

kat
Old 01-02-2007, 03:37 PM
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The only heat issue I recall with the 3.0 is the #6 due to the crossover, going to headers, coated, wraped, or not, should alleviate this.

I have a 22RE but I have had a coated and a non coated header, the non coated put out some serious heat.. the coated one is amazing, its SOOO much cooler under there....
Old 01-02-2007, 03:41 PM
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I'm a big fan of coated, but for those of you still having heat issues- why not wrap the cables / hoses you're talking about? I coated my Downey's and still got a $20 roll of Cool-It adhesive backed barrier. I've done this stuff for yeras & never had a problem with heat xfer into my PS, brake, or fuel lines.

Don't blame the headers for an incomplete system!
Old 01-02-2007, 03:49 PM
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im not blaming them - just trying to make sure i take proper precautions -

to be honest the only reason the headers are going on is for longevity due to that #6 cylinder -- i plan on wrapping the wires in the surrounding area's as well. The fuel lines are certainly going to get done -- I just want to do it right while i have everything out -- thanks for all the input you guys!

Kat
Old 01-02-2007, 03:50 PM
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Originally Posted by 89934runr
why not wrap the cables / hoses you're talking about? I coated my Downey's and still got a $20 roll of Cool-It adhesive backed barrier.
Well now... THERE'S a simple solution! DOH!

(thanks man!)
Old 01-02-2007, 03:58 PM
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Originally Posted by justinking060310
just trying to make sure i take proper precautions -
Well here's another one. The passenger side header comes VERY close to the floorboard. Mine has actually burned a hole in the carpet and melted the corner of my floormat. If you don't wrap it, you might want to look into a custom bend. As far as heat goes, here is a list of the stuff that my ceramic coated headers have burned up:

-Tranny kickdown cable
-Speedo cable
-floor mat & carpet
-spark plug wire (fell out of the little clip)

None of those things were actually touching the headers. They were just too close. The tranny cable actually caused a small fire. I've only had heat related problems with the passenger side header. The driver side has been fine.
Old 01-02-2007, 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by 89934runr
I'm a big fan of coated, but for those of you still having heat issues- why not wrap the cables / hoses you're talking about?
I have the ceramic coated Downey's on the 3vz-e and so far this method has worked for me. Either wrap or reroute some of the possible "burn victims" out of the way and you should be fine.

I also bought from BajaConcepts -- they honored the price and told me that it was a blatant rip off what some of these places charge for Downey products versus what the Dealers get them for. Take it for what it's worth but I saved big $$$ buying from them.
-=Morphine=-

Last edited by Morphine; 01-02-2007 at 04:54 PM.

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