Manifold/exhaust ceramic coating experiences and comments

[Darius]

Since quite a few people are investing in new mild steel manifolds lately, I think this would be a good time to cover ceramic coating and get some comments from those who have had direct experience with ceramic coatings. What coatings do you recommend what product lines from those companies and maybe some pointers as to DIY?

I know gawdzilla has done his own ceramic coating with Techline's Turbo-X, but doesn't think it helps as much as it should. I have e-mailed local shops that use Techline, but don't like Turbo-X either. They prefer other lines from Techline and coat both the interior and exterior of the manifold.

I've also received a quote from Jet-Hot to coat the manifold for $160+shipping both ways, so about $210. More expensive but I have heard they do a great job.

[mello88]

Good idea for a thread, looking forward to lots of useful replies here...

I have a small can of the TurboX here I was going to use but think I may go a different direction now after reading Gawdzilla's review.

[until240]

i heard this mentioned a while back somewhere, i believe it was from codyace(?). he said to use swaintech ceramic coatings, white lightning in particular. apparently nasa uses it? anyways here's a link: http://www.swaintech.com/store.asp?pid=10296

i would like to know more about this too...as i'm considering getting a ceramic coating for my exhaust manifold.

[Shocker]

I bought a DEI heat wrap kit, comes with silicon spray, and 100 ft of 2 inch wrap, with metal ties. It came out pretty nice. Did my down pipe with it as well. Cant comment on how it works, my car doesnt run yet.........

[Darius]

If a pipe is not coated on the interior, is it hard on the steel because it is exposed to all that heat from the inside but is not able to pass it through to the atmosphere? Intuitively, it would make sense that the metal of the exhaust manifold and down pipe in particular would get hotter than if not heat wrapped or ceramic coated on the exterior only. I'm just talking about the metal itself, not the engine bay or anything else.

[240z4u]

Jet hot does not coat the inside of turbo exhaust manifolds. FYI.

Not sure why, I don't remember.

Evan

[gawdzilla]

they do to a certain extent.. at least the ones i've seen, but yea, not all the way through the inside. I think the reason is its too hard/not possible to alum oxide blast (prep) the inside of a pipe, let alone an entire manifold with bends, so anything they do spray in there probably won't be even and won't set well due to prep difficulty.

as a followup to the techline turbo x coating.. the other day after shutting the car off.. maybe 15 minutes afterwards i could touch and hold my coated downpipe (still warm). in comparison, the compressor housing turbo outlet(cast aluminum and uncoated but does not see direct exhaust gas) was still too hot to hold my hand on it. also, the vband clamp which held the turbine to the downpipe (uncoated stainless steel) was even hotter.

So in turbo x's defense it is doing something. i don't have any technical data with temp #s so i'm not going to bash its effectiveness anymore.

although my downpipe and turbine housings are coated, i've since wrapped the dp with fiberglass and put a turbo blanket on the turbo. mainly this helps protect the paint on my hood as well as my brake booster/master cylinder from the downpipe. My brake booster died suspiciously... i think it was from the heat.

[silviasgp06]

If a pipe is not coated on the interior, is it hard on the steel because it is exposed to all that heat from the inside but is not able to pass it through to the atmosphere? Intuitively, it would make sense that the metal of the exhaust manifold and down pipe in particular would get hotter than if not heat wrapped or ceramic coated on the exterior only. I'm just talking about the metal itself, not the engine bay or anything else.

if the interior of the pipe doesnt have the coating yess the heat doesnt get to pass through the pipe metal to the atmosphere but thats not that big of an issue since the exhaust flow itself is carrying away most of that contained heat.

[Darius]

Mainly, I was thinking that if the coating kept the heat out of the metal in the first place, it would be carried out in the exhaust gas which would be proportionally hotter.

[Carl H]

my exhaust manifold and turbine housing have been ceramic coated, it helps a tiny bit but i mainly did it to prevent the nasty oxidation that happens to these items...rust ftmfl.

[DJButton]

...rust ftmfl.

I'm thinking about wrapping my dp, in my experience that's been more effective then coatings.

[until240]

...but wouldn't wrapping your downpipe make it rust faster?

[240z4u]

It does make them rust faster.

Jet hot told me that they don't do the inside of the pipe.

I am likely going to do a jet hot manifold at some point soon. I should take temps before and after.

Evan

[Darius]

Is it recommended to use heat wrap and ceramic coatings together or does the heat wrap adhesive need special surface prep to make the wrap stick?

[240z4u]

Jet hot says not to use header wrap on the ceramic coated parts.

I am in the air, I may do header wrap on my factory exhaust manifold..

Evan

[DriftingisLame]

The difference between a ceramic coating and a simple header wrap on an exhaust manifold is that, ceramic coating the inside of the manifold will not only keep heat in the runners, but it will keep the manifold itself protected from the heat. The reason why this is superior to an external header wrap is because no heat energy is wasted by escaping through the manifold and in to the engine bay. Remember, it is heat energy coupled with exhaust velocity that gives us our initial spool up of the turbine wheel.. Another benefit is that since the manifold is subject to less head with the ceramic coating, the metal will not become as brittle, or prone to cracking. To benefit most, I'd ceramic coat the inside, for the reasons I mentioned above, and the outside to keep underhood temps down.

Header wrap keeps more heat, than even a factory heat shield, stuck in the metal of the manifold, it will become brittle and maybe crack. Header wrap does not have any protection against rust either. The only benefit I see from header wrap is the reduction in under hood temps.

Ceramic coating wins.

[240z4u]

To quote "chris" whoever that is from jet hot.

"Due to being a turbo, the parts before the turbo are coated outsideonly."

I am going to email him and ask him specifically about ceramic coating the inside. I 100% agree that the coating is the superior choice.

Header wrap is obviously worse as far as rust, header wrap voids most warrantys on headers.

IMO I 100% agree on your thoughts on coating the inside, I would rather the inside was coated as well. However, it seems like they WON'T do the inside because its a turbo car.

Evan

I will let you guys know what jet-hot says.

[DriftingisLame]

It confuses me why they would say something like that. I mean, from a performance aspect, there's not a huge difference between coating the outside over the inside. However, there is a longevity difference.

I look forward to his response.

[240z4u]

It confuses me why they would say something like that. I mean, from a performance aspect, there's not a huge difference between coating the outside over the inside. However, there is a longevity difference.

I look forward to his response.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the longevity issue. Even then, if the coating is good up to 2000 degrees, why would less then that burn the coating off?

I asked that when I emailed. Ill keep you guys updated.

Evan

[Darius]

I can understand why they don't coat the inside of the manifold for turbocharged cars, because they don't want to be responsible for replacing your turbo if the coating fails and damages the exhaust turbine. It probably isn't a matter of whether they can or cannot do it, but a matter of covering one's a$$.

[240z4u]

To quote chris from Jet-hot

"Anything before the turbo is coated outside only. The reason is liability if the coating was to fail for any reason. The coating could possibly damage the turbo".

Makes sense, as Darius said, and I had suspected as well.

These guys have amazing response time on questions, I will definitely be sending my stuff to them.

Evan