Like I said it may weaken the metal over a LONG period of time but because this is piping with no real weight applied to it because of bracing the chances of it cracking are VERY slim. SS304 is prettty damn strong.

 

I had my turbonetics turbo housing and all the pipes coming from manifolds up to the housing-ceramic coated. I also did just the downpipe but not the one that goes underneth the car. Then I spayed it with black high temp paint for cosmetics concern. The pipes will come snow white. It is the best way to go. After I have been driving the car, I then turn it off , quickly touch the housing and not burn myself. I have a thermo laser temp gun and before I coated the parts, the housing temp at idle, was between 380 to 420. Now it is around 180 to 220. Huge difference. It is worth every penny. Header wrap is horrible, ugly, and hard to put on. Just make sure you do not purchase flame spray or a jet coat. make sure it is a true molted ceramic. I sent mine up to N.Y. a company called Swain Tech coatings.

 

I'd like to pull out my turbo and coat the housing but I don't think it's going to be worth the trouble at this point. Its mostly for cosmetic reasons, as the turbine housing is getting a little rusty.

 

How expensive is that coating? I am considering having my pipes wrapped this winter (which is a bit of work to remove and reinstall everything) so maybe it makes sense to have it coated instead?
Also, anyone know hard it is to do the turbo housing?

 

Sleeper,

This looks like some amazing stuff. Could you give us a rough idea of costs? I am contacting them now for further information myself.

Thanks for the FYI man.

Brent

 

Taurran- It is never to late to coat the housing and the pipes. They just have to give it a little more prep work. Now flame spray and jet hot are a paint type of coating which are about 0.003 thick where as I had the ceramic and is 0.015 thick. To coat your pipes and housing it is not a waste of money nor is it just for cosmetics. As you can see my signiture it is all about performance and [B]NO COSMETICS. The surface temp. is down 60% and the ambient is down to 50%. Like I said before after boosting my car I can touch the housing and not burn myself. Ceramic is permanent unlike header wrap which I will never have again. Header wrap gets wet, collects dirt, and its ugly. This comes rough texture pearl white that can be painted with high temp paint for color desire. This is the best I have ever seen. The coating is awsome. Swain Tech is the company I had my work done and there is no substitution. Trust me it is the best investment. The heat shield that comes with the Turbonetics kit is terrible especially for the money you spend on the system. Conclusion I am extremely satisfied with this product and even though it is a street application and not a full out race it is well worth it. Pricing is about 45 bucks a foot of pipe and 75 to 100 on the turbo housing.

 

I don't know if the wrap will really weken the steel, but it makes sense if cryogenic freezing does the opposite.

 

I am considering having my housing and pipes coated by Swain Tech also. Can you tell me what the coating looks like? I understand it is very textured and can flake off. Is that true? Can you post some pics of your housing and pipes that were coated?
Thanks.

 

Ok guys just to give you what I know:
304 SS has a higher rockwell hardness vs. Carbon Steel
Carbon steel is about 20% stronger (yield) than 304 SS
304SS is very prone to deferemation when heat is applied.

If you put heat tape on your exhaust, it will be fine for 304SS until you take it apart. Once you take your exhaust apart, you will never get it back together correctly. That is why only racers coat/wrap there exhaust.

If you are looking at cooling the engine bay - convective cooling is much more effective than reducing conductive heat!!!!!

 

Is there any advantage to wrapping intercooler piping?

 

Insulating your intercooler piping would probably be a bad idea, as the whole purpose of the intercooler is to get rid of heat, not to reatin it.
As for the exhaust lagging, i was just wondering if you guys are talking about welded and bent stainless headers, or cast headers. Because the lagging shouldn´t affect cast headers at all. Welded ones, yes i can understand how the welds can become weakend, but the are no welds on cast headers. Anybody second that?

 

cast manifolds would be perfectly fine to wrap.