Re: Ceramic Coating for lower underhood temps - YES

["Gary G. Erickson" <erickson@teleport.com>]

glen powell wrote:
 
> If the goal is lower underhood temps, is not a 'wrap' type
> solution much more effective, lower cost and easier to
> apply (no expensive and time-consuming disassembly)?

Glen (and others),

I had been talking to one of the guys at a local speed shop and he had
told me to go look into some of the coatings because he couldn't in good
conscience recommend the use of header wrap on a street car.

Evidently the header wrap has this nasty little tendency to trap
moisture down by the header/manifold and greatly accelerate the
breakdown of the manifold.

The rather amusing part was when he told me that the only way he would
put header wrap on a non-racecar was if he had the manifold _coated_
first in order to combat the rust!

BTW, just for another data point, there is a coating place in Washington
that has a web site at http://www.performancecoatings.com

I've gotten a quote from them for ~$325 that would do an external
thermal barrier on the intake manifold and turbo cold side, header coat
on the exhaust manifold, turbo hot side, and downpipe.  Seems like cheap
insurance to keep the manifold from warping and improve longevity of
other components in the area.

Coating all of these as a set should keep the under-hood temps down, and
not cause any excessive heat soak in a partictular component.  Yes/No??

I'll be happy to entertain comments WRT my logic here.  Thanks!

Gary

-- 
Gary G. Erickson         Secretary -- NW Quattro Club
 503-702-5789           mailto:erickson@teleport.com
   http://www.teleport.com/~erickson/pnwaudi.htm