Hello,

I made the leap to waste some money on headers. I bought a set of SS Topspeed headers. I'll post pictures soon. I think the headers look decent quality for the price. I live in PA and use my car as a daily driver.

I have read alot about using header wrap and jet hot coatings, etc... But who runs with just plain Stainless Steel headers, no coating etc.. I plan to wrap insulation around the fuel line, AC line and whatever else is close to the header, but I have a small concern about heat in the engine bay. Does anyone have experience with this? should I worry about coatings or wraps on the headers in regards to heat? Thanks for the feedback!

Chris

 

I have Alphawerks Stainless Steel Headers. 22,608 miles and no problems.

 

Your engine temps might rise slightly but nothing too major. However, coatings and wraps can lower your header temps significantly, and lower temps certainly won't hurt. it all depends on what you use the car for. Tracking/drag racing would warrant a coating or wrap but a dd will not be affected too much.

Dont expect much from those knock-off headers anyway.

 

Everything I've read about coatings and wraps is just the opposite, their intended purpose is to keep heat in the pipes...to increase exhaust velocity and scavenging. The outer surface (wrap or ceramic coating) may be cooler to the touch but thats only because the heat is staying in the pipe and exhaust gas.

And Topspeed headers are proven as long as they don't lean you out too bad, but even then a tune will recapture any loss assuming there is any.

 

top speed headers are a fantastic bang for the buck header. get them coated if possible. i would rather have a set of ts headers jet hot coated for the same price as lets say alphawerk headers uncoated.

 

+1 for Jet-hot coated! (I have strup headers w/ the cermaic coating and it's perfect!)

 

Thanks for the feedback. I understand the principles of hotter exhaust= higher flow, etc.. and realize this car has minimal gains for headers as NA. I am modistly hoping to gain some mid range response, and some more roar from the engine. I understand these are not crawford headers, or long tube, etc..

It seems like everyone is getting the headers coated, but see few manufacturers selling coated headers. This seems like a no brainer to me for performance, and I can't see why companies don't do it more often to improve thier products. Regardless, they sell headers in plain SS, and as a dd I plan to put them in as is.

I just want to know, does anyone else run like this and encountered problems with no wrap or coating? Thanks!

 

dunno bout running in plain ss. But Jet-hot was great, and imo, I'd rather run plain SS than SS w/ heat wrap (cuz the wrap could cause extra internal strain on the headers over time). Get the jet-hot or run plain ss. Just my .02