Exhaust Header Ceramic Coating

[Richard Kaye]

Has anyone had their exhaust headers (tubular headers not the cast manifolds) ceramic coated? Thinking about doing it on my 3.9 RRC.

Was it worth it? How much did it cost? Any gain in performance?

[rick130]

I've had thermal wrap on pipes and turbo dumps and have the dump/down pipe coated on my TD5 D2.

First up, you'll need a dyno to measure any HP/torque gains, the bum dyno won't notice it. In another lifetime I've had sensitive race drivers not able to pick a 4% power increase, although they could pick a change in the torque curve.
In theory, the slight increase in gas velocity will help but it's not a noticeable change like changing a cam.
Use a reputable company or try and view work that's at least 12 months old.
When I bought the 3" system for the Disco I had the option of having the dump 'ceramic coated' by the system manufacturer.
This was cheaper and easier then me sending the dump off to my coater
The system is 409 stainless, so will stain or rust blemish in use..
I have rust bleeding through the coating all along the dump and the system is only a couple of years old.
The manifold was done at the same time by another company (of my choice) and it still looks as new.

The big advantage for me is reducing under bonnet temps, but it has to be thick enough to make a difference.
You've probably already discounted header wrap when you're asking about coating, but I will say IME wrapped mild steel pipes rust out far too quickly, even when aluminised. I've had to repair too many headers and dump pipes that were wrapped.

Hope that helps

[discomatt69]

I have ceramic coating on the extractors in my Disco 1, stuffed if I know what difference they made as they went on when I first built the engine, I did it for engine bay heat , the coating is as new 6 years later except the colour change which I think is from dirt, dust and mud more than anything else , they have done about 150,000 km

[Richard Kaye]

Hi discomatt69, did it make much difference for the engine bay temperatures?

[Richard Kaye]

I have made some inquiries and it looks like it will cost $450-$550 to get the coating done.

[grey_ghost]

I had ceramic coating done on my 101 - it made a HUGE difference to the cabin temperatures…

I don’t know if the engine runs better - but in a 101, reducing cabin temperatures is a good thing…