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I building a 32 roadster. Open engine bay with just a hood top. There are many choices of brands for headers. I would like to go with block huggers....but ceramic coated or stainless? Which one holds up and looks best. This will be a driver. Small block chevy powered.
Thanks,
Scott
For something a bit different, Sanderson makes some great cast headers
http://www.sandersonheaders.com
Cearamic coat will keep the underhood temps down, but I believe the ceramic is quite fragile. Stainless will always polish back to its original luster.
I've never owned stainless ones, but have heard they will discolor after a while and need repolishing. Like I said though, no personal experience.
I have owned, and do own several sets of ceramic coated ones and love 'em. Just a light touch up with any metal polish and water spots, etc disappear.
Don
Stainless headers will develop a gold tone over time, and I have never seen a set that looked as good as ceramic coated headers. I have a set of Sanderson block hugger ceramic coated 1 3/4 inch headers on my coupe. They have excellent workmanship, and they still look like new after four years. They are on the higher end as far as price goes, but I don't mind paying a little extra for a high quality product.
Not trying to steal the thread.....but its sort of related. Who do you guys like to have coat your headers? There's a bunch of them out there now. I'm making my own headers and will need to have them coated.
Dave G
Coated headers will signifigantly lower under hood temps and cool off quicker after shutdown than uncoated headers. They also are easy to keep clean and good looking...Most guys I know running exposed header/sidepipe like them for the above reasons, especially Cobra owners.
Some people have had good luck with JetHot, some have not. I did not. I don't want to go into a lot of detail but the facility in Mississippi gave me poor customer service and lousy quality coating on a set of headers I sent them some years ago. I won't use them again. Moore Power Coatings in Waverly, Nebraska 402-786-2887 does some nice work. Check out their website at www.moorepower.com.
I also had problems with JetHot out of their MS. facility...poor quality, poor customer service...but this was a few years ago. When I replaced my engine in my Cobra two years ago I had new tuned headers and sidepipes made then sent them of to Moore Power...fantastic job and fast turnaround time.
Thanks Rumrum. I've added it to my list of fav's.Quote:
Originally Posted by rumrumm
Dave G.
I have a set of Sanderson block huggers with HPC coating. No problems after nearly 15 years.
I had the same problem with a set of headers and sidepipes on Shirley's Mustang.Quote:
Originally Posted by rumrumm
They advertize a "lifetime coating" but after 4 years they started to rust badly between the tubes. This is on a car that gets driven maybe 500 miles a year and is otherwise garaged 100% of the time. They would not give me any satisfaction at all even though the coating price was over $550.:mad: I am in the process of redoing the entire exhaust system and will go somewhere else this time for sure.
John
Thanks guys for the input! I will be going with the ceramic coated headers.