zerMATT951

I've had the head off for a while now and I'm finally starting to put things back together. I've decided to pull the crossover & down pipe to have the crossover converted to 3-piece and have them and my exhaust header Jet-Hot 2000 coated. I'm also going to have my intake manifold, LR hard pipes, and TB coated with Extreme Sterling for a little bling. While I'm in there, I'm going to pull all of the heat shields around the turbo ceramic coated with something a little more subtle (no bling) to help keep more heat away from stuff.

Am I missing anything? I want to make sure I get anything that would help to reduce under-hood temps coated while I'm at it.

Now I just wish that my aluminum and unpainted metal fittings and do-dads weren't all oxidized and ugly looking! I may have to try some small amounts of etching mag wheel cleaner on those to see what happens.

I really want to address heat, help turbo efficiency, and dress things up a bit while I'm in this far.

JohnKoaWood

Header, crossover, turbo hot side, downpipe, heat shields... intake and hardpipes are a little over the top, but hey.. some folks did the shiny bits...

zerMATT951

Once I have the turbo out, can I just pull the hot side housing off while not disturbing the impeller, or is that simple too? Also, does the hot side include the oil/water/bearing center section, or just the hot impeller housing?

Yeah, I know. But I figured that would be more durable than chrome and easier to accomplish and maintain than polishing.

David Floyd

Correct,

I had my intake, intercooler pipes, headers and the big turbo heat shield in the JetHot 2000 Sterling years ago all still look great except the header which finally burnt off after about 50k miles, the turbo hotside I had done in the JetHot black and its is still good

Nice to see you back around

zerMATT951

Thanks! I know I seem to disappear for months and years at a time... Having a broken car, new wife, and now a 2 year old girl will do that.

I must say that every time I come back to hit the group up for advice and see who's still around, there are always plenty of opinions and ideas... not to mention a few smartass comments to keep everyone in check.

Rennlist rocks!

Chris White

The stock shielding and insulation on the headers and crossover pipe are better than any aftermarket coating. Don’t remove that just to get the headers coated.

Coating the downpipe will make your AOS happier in the long run.

zerMATT951

I'm guessing that before I get the intake coated that I may need to have the surface smoothed a bit... any opinions on that? I'm going to have a local polishing shop take a look at it tomorrow and get a quote to have it cleaned up and smoothed, but stop short of a mirror finish. I want it to match new hard pipes that will also be coated.

Ski

Most of the good coatings will cut down on temps, avg of about 200°F from non coated parts on the exhaust manifold, cross over, and down pipe - my experience with a laser temp gun. I coated the exhaust manifolds WITH shielding on. Intake was coated too but minimal gain at best - looks great and made it easy to clean but only dropped the avg temp by 12-15° on the runners - Jet Hot Sterling 1200.

teamcrossworks

Since I am also looking to "coat" my exhaust manifold and associated parts (crossover pipe, Bursch test pipe and anything else needed to minimize sub hood heat), can I now conclude that I should be able to send my manifold off to Swain with the shields in place to have it coated?

I'm unsure of the insulation material mentioned...since I have never had this apart before.

Thanks to all as usual!

zerMATT951

Thanks Bret - that confirms my expectations on the intake. I figure I want it at least powder-coated, so why not just get it ceramic coated (Jet Hot Sterling 1700) so it's also be easy to maintain, and I get a *little* intake temp reduction to boot.

Also, as teamcrossworks mentioned, I've been wondering about coating he exhaust headers with the shields intact - it sounds like that's been done, so I'll probably go that route. I guess it makes sense because the coating is sprayed-on and baked, so it shouldn't deteriorate the insulation under the aluminum shields... I think I recall someone saying there is some asbestos-like material in there to, which is why I was reluctant to leave the shields in place. Combine that with Chris' comment that the factory shields work very well to begin with, it seems like coating them would help even more, plus the added benefit of trapping heat in the un-shielded portions - especially on the crossover pipe.

Darwantae951

It's been done, but you are insulating insulation at that point. If you have aftermarket headers, with no insulation, then it will of course help, but I don't see the point with stock headers.

mwc951

Eh...It looks good anyway!

zerMATT951

Kinda like adding R16 to the R22 that was already in my attic, now I have R38 up there.

gt37vgt

i prefer that fiberglass and foil mating along with stainless cable ties and folding up little heat shields in thin stainless titanium or that pre made aluminum/ceramic heat shield stuff .
perhaps send a bucket of stuff to get nickel or zinc plated fittings fasteners brakets etc

Ski

from Rhob Smiths old car