I also want to add that the coating (just spray paint) that comes with the header from the header manufactor is not the same the the coating from Jet-hot or Air Born.

 

if there is coating on the inside, wouldn't that interfere with the flow of the gasses somewhat, or is it like smoothed out or something?

 

just called jet hot...would be around $200 to do a set of headers for the z....supposed to extend the life of the headers significantly by reducing an protecting from the heat produced by the exhaust gases

this might be worth while since the install is a ***** and i only want to do this one time....and the headers should last for the life time of the car...just my .02

check out their web site for more info...jet-hot

 

looks plays no part on a Z header - you cannot see it.

At the end of the day, no matter what something is made out of, the quality of that material determines the quality of the product. With metals, the composition of the metals (ie mettalurgy) determines what the better material is. Thin stainless will rust and crack and fall apart quicker than thick mild steel

The stainless most everyone uses is SUS304 - one of the lowest grades and nothing spectacular - it can rust if given the right conditions.

The ceramic coating is there to retain heat to the header (speeds velocity in theory), and to keep the mild steel from rusting.

In all though, unless you live in a very rough climited with lots of salt on the roads, either of these will, in all liklihood, last longer than we will all keep the car.

Adam

 

I have had two sets of headers on my Camaro (at different times)and both sets were coated by Jethot. Within a year the coating started to flake and my headers rusted. One set even had a pinhole rust in it. I sent both back to Jethot to be recoated (under warranty) and the salesman said it depends on the weather (I'm in NY) anyway my piont is that I will only be putting SS headers on my Z and anyother car I own.

 

My DC headers are made of t-304 stainless steel. Is that the same as sus304? I think alot of racing teams, ie nascar use ceramic coated mild steel headers, they do this because they switch them out all of the time. They are just cheaper to buy, and some people would only keep the car or the headers for a few years. Companies that make both do this so they can keep costs down. Some people just don't have a thousand bucks for ss headers, i'm using nismo for example, but if you could get ceramic nismo's (which you can't) for 700 bucks, alot more people would have nismos.

Heres a fact, all of the really good headers for our car AKA nismo and crawford are only available in stainless steel.

 

well if you live in snow country stainless would likely be a must. same thing if you live by the beach. other than that you could definitely get away with running ceramic headers, and they should last quite a long time. i noticed on my oem headers when i removed them that the outside had a thin layer of rust and the inside was starting to rust as well, but those were cast iron. this was after 1 yr of ownership btw

 

I once considered this as well but the shop that was selling the wrap advised against it. Yes, it will trap a good deal more heat in which is good but it also raises the temperature of the header's metal temperature, high enough that they will crack and embrittle shortening their lifespan. If they were constructed from thicker pipe then maybe it could work out but I wouldn't do it. A good ceramic coating should be good enough.

 

ceramic coated over mild steel headers will rust and currode if the ceramic coating is chipped or after a few years... if you live in an area where there is alot of salt in the air or salt on the roads from snow maintnence etc i would not use CC headers unless you plan on switching them out after 3-5 years...

stainless headers should essentially last you the life of the car... they will not rust or currode...

 

seems like the best thing to do performance wise and economic wise would be get ceramic headers and wrap them with the header tape...thats also if you cant really see the headers...for example on the our cars i dont really think you can see the headers that easy...if you look down there you can but they are hard to see so some ugly headers wrapped wouldnt look that bad

 

It depends on what you're aiming for regarding "economy". Insulating the headers will reduce their lifespan. You'll have to buy/install another set within two years I'm pretty sure. They're just not thick enough to take that amount of temperature (insulated) for a long time without cracking and embrittling from what I've gathered.

Maybe there could be a compromise in this though. Everyone's seen how the SS headers and the discoloration they get from the high temperature, very purple near the cylinder. The color fades away further down the pipe as the exhaust gases expand and cool. It may be possible to insulate just further down the pipe where temperatures would be less excessive. Hopefully this way the metal wouldn't get too stressed but you could still get some benefit from keeping some heat in (velocities higher).

 

Key facts about stainless steel headers.

1) Stainless is rust resistant. This means that the life of a stainless header should be longer than the life of a mild steel header. "Life of the car" may be stretching things, but they'll last much longer than mild steel.

2) Stainless is a poor heat conductor compared to mild steel. This means stainless is somewhat self-insulating.

3) A polished surface is a very poor radiator of heat. So polished SS headers will not radiate heat to the engine compartment nearly as much as plain finished steel. In other words, polishing will keep the engine compartment cooler.

4) Stainless suffers grain growth (makes it brittle) at sustained temperatures in the 900 to 1500 F range. This means you want to keep header temperature less than about 800F. Wrapping or ceramic coating the header may push you into the undesired temperature range.

 

I am getting DC SS Headers put on my z. I just had the Borla put on 1month ago. I see you have both of these. Was there a big difference in sound or performance?

 

SS looks so purtty when you turn on the car for the first time. You get to see them change colors.

 

they dnt look pretty when there rusted and golden brown, i had SS headers on my previous car and i would rather have CC headers due to them looking better and being in better shape through time

 

302 SS does not rust.

 

On ebay, there are several stainless headers for sell. The site does not indicate who made them, so you have no idea of the quality. Does anybody have any experience (good or bad) on buying, installing and the longevity of these headers?