Should I coat my Stainless headers?
 

I have some Stainless works headers I'm putting on my LS3. Will these things turn ugly brown once they are heated?

If so what can I coat them with so they look perfect forever?

Uncoated.

I love the uncoated look of "bronzed" stainless headers....

They will tarnish - if that bothers you, jet-hot does an awesome job keeping them polished for decades. Comes with a lifetime warranty. Some like the patina look, though

I like the colored look when they first turn, but after a while they get pretty nasty looking, especially on turbo cars with the extreme heat. I ended up coating mine, looked MUCH better in my opinion, and cut some of the underhood heat.

John, If you engine is not broken in, do not break it in with new coated headers. I would go uncoated personally and coat later if you dont like the look.

Turbo heat is a whole 'nother animal. 321 stainless, and double top-secret coating for sure!

For N/A cars, the bronze natural look of 304 stainless is pleasing to my eye. What's cool is that the color slowly changes from the the exhaust port all the way to the tail pipe. The other thing about coated headers is that one little scratch ruins the whole look. They have to be sent out for re-coating. Natural stainless scratches can be rubbed out with some 3M red scotch-brite.

My Z06 headers are coated, and look good too, but are slowly losing luster. Of course, that motor stays near redline for 20 minutes at a time, so they see all the exhaust heat a normally aspirated motor can throw at it.

Engine is new. Thanks for the tip. I'll break in with uncoated and if the color bothers me later I can have them coated.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Much appreciated

If you can bolt on an old crappy set for engine break in that is best.

I don't have an old set? What does an engine do during break in that I don't want my headers on there?

really not as much of an issue with modern LS stuff. Older engines with flat tappet cams required a 30-45 minute 2500 rpm run in when first fired to break-in the cam. The higher exhaust temps with the car sitting still (no real airflow) will dull the header coating in most cases.

New LS stuff or roller cam engines don't need that break-in, so if the tune is okay there's no heat issues.

My stainless works headers uncoated still look good but the stainless Magnaflow exhaust system is rusting (cheap grade of stainless).

The key is to wipe them down with alchohol before you run the engine the first time. If they are coated, you bring it up to temp and shut it down and let them cool off. Coated or stainless, they are going to deteriorate cosmetically with miles.

Roller cam motors don't need breaking in... and if it's a crate LS3 just fire it off and go drive.

GREAT QUALITY SS headers are one thing.... not so great SS headers look nasty after awhile... so the answer is "all depends". Like many here - I like the look of good quality SS turning gold etc... but not so much the nasty stuff. They need coating.

The headers on my '32 are polished FOOD GRADE SS -- and when they first turned I didn't like it -- but I've gotten over that and now don't mind them colored.

What effect does wiping the headers down with alcohol produce?

It removes oils which would otherwise burn off and add to the tarnish.

In another thread someone mentioned treating them with rain-x, which others verified worked. Not sure what the science is behind it, and never tried it myself, but I'll be looking into it.

Here's the Akrapovic stainless header on my KTM SDR, only thing I've used on it is WD-40 which Akrapovic actually recommends. My regular cleanup routine involves wiping the exhaust system down with WD-40.
http://sieg.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/...49_F4G8R-L.jpg

http://sieg.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/...vk89f-XL-4.jpg
I'd say its decent stainless based on the coloration though it has seen very little wet weather usage.

Here's the header as new:
http://sieg.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/...02_RT6pz-L.jpg

Wow nice bike!

Thanks. Hopefully the exhaust condition helps answer your questions.

what about for keeping temps cool under the hood, with stainless headers is coating worth any heat reduction?

The heat reduction is HUGE underhood -- particularly if they're coated inside and out (which they should be).... Then the heat gets expelled.

If you don't like the look just have them coated.

Brown or silver.

Just the reduction of under hood temp is worth it.

Sweet!

These are uncoated stainless headers on my Corvette. I personally like the patina.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps33b63506.jpg

My Camaro headers are 15 years old and coated mild steel.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...s67c0f24e.jpeg