Ceramic Coated Ptuning Headers Ambient Temperature Testing
 

So I got my headers back from Performance Coatings in Atlanta today. They were coated in stealth black. Apparently they were able to coat a lot of the inside too!

I built a high output L28 engine that was in my old 280Z 2+2 and one thing I loved was the fact that I could work on the engine minutes after shutting it off and had no fear of burning my hands. The L28 has the header flange and intake flange right next to each other, and coated headers made a huge difference.

As far as looks go, this isnt a show car. It's meant to function, so obviously since I know ceramic coatings actually works then of course I'm going to coat everything I could. Hell, I'd do my entire system if I wasnt so lazy!

So here's the documentation:

1. Constants:
-car sits overnight in 40 degree weather
-car is driven to my office, approximately 17 miles (about 30 minutes) on highways and main roads
-car is no revved over 6k RPM
-temperature is taken within 3 minutes of engine shut down
-multiple points are used to show ambient temperatures (in Fahrenheit)
-used a Ryobi handheld Laser pointer heat tester thinggy

2. Variables:
-header change
-ceramic coating applied to new header

To establish a baseline I drove 17miles to work at 0830 this morning. I parked, popped the hood and took temperatures at the following points:

1. Front underpan center (right below center radiator support)
2. Radiator support center (between two bolts)
3. Grey plug for bottom cam sensor
4. Right side frame rail (will show pictures)
5. Front sway bar (next to front/overpipe connection in line with silver boot band)
6. Bottom bolt of rear cam plate
7. Intake filter element (Injen intake system)
8. Center of MAF
9. TB edge (next to the little line on it)
10. Top center of engine cover
11. Center of passenger side radiator fan motor
12. Dot on dipstick mount
13. Overpipe itself
14. Header system itself

The following baseline temperatures (Fahrenheit) were established (in black). The new tempatures with coated headers, heatshield tape on underside/back of Injen intake box and front of oil pan, and my ghetto HKS intake creation (see thread below) are in Green and Black (depending on if they went up or down).
1. 250 190
2. 86 98
3. 215 138
4. 101 95
5. 181 211
6. 272 212
7. 69 60
8. 83 79
9. 83 77
10. 91 77
11. 142 68
12. 182 118
13. 222 197
14. 478 336

HOLY SHIT. The car is going to be insane one a tune gets configured on it. The following "engine" mods are on the car:

Injen Intake system
Perrin Crank pulley
Crawford BPBs
Ptuning Headers
Motiv overpipe
Motiv catless front pipe
Perrin exhaust system with resonator
93 pump gas only

Sound?
The car sounded mean before. Low grumble at idle, very quiet. Same grumble but a little bit louder at idle. When on the throttle, it is def. louder than before, and now slight raspy. This is perceived from inside the car. I'd like to ride next to see to see if the rasp is real or just interior noise. When not on the throttle hard it sounds pretty much just like before. I credit that to the excellent design of the perrin exhaust. It's quiet when you want it to be, loud when you want it to be! To compare, my 280Z had 6-2-1 headers with a 2.5 mandrel bent system back to a magaflow inline muffler with 4" tip. I feel like the Subaru is almost if not the same volume as the Z car was, and that doesn't make sense to me being that the Z has two more cylinders, .9 more liters (told you it was HO, lol) and the Z didn't have any resonator. Weird.

EDIT: I have since installed the above HKS front pipe. WORLD of a difference. ZERO rasp now. Cold starts are not that loud at all. Engine at WOT sounds mean as hell. HIGHLY recommend the HKS frontpipe for catless setups. Of course I forgot the heat shield tape at my apartment so I can't put the panels back on and do a final temp test until that is completed. I plan to do that this weekend.

Performance?
Once the headers and overpipe were installed I drove it about 8 miles back to my apt. Within that 8 miles the ECU was still learning (reset the ECU by neg. cable disconnect during install) so I stalled out a few times. Near the end of the drive, in 4th gear going 30mph I could punch it and get to 50 in nearly half the time it used to take me. This sucker is going to be over 200 to the ground when it gets tuned.

Since I can't follow my constants above until Saturday, I cannot do the second test until this weekend. I left both trays off under the car so I can re-tighten everything after a few heat cycles. I will say this. After my "spirited" drive home, I tested the pipes themself right next to the upstream sensors. Highest reading? 370. Thats over 100 degrees cooler than the HEAT SHIELD on the stock system. Cam sensor plug? 130. Thats 85 degrees cooler.

EDIT: I also just purchased this [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Thermo-Tec-13575-Adhesive-Backed-Barrier/dp/B00029KC2K/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415196971&sr=8-3&keywords=heat+shield+tape"]Amazon.com: Thermo-Tec 13575 12" X 24" Adhesive Backed Heat Barrier: Automotive[/ame] to put on the oil pan front where the headers are near it. I figure it can't hurt!

When it gets tuned I'll post a dyno chart here. Sorry, no "Before" chart.

Current crappy video of exhaust (basically audio only, lol)

EDIT FOR VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3F7...vUHj1WSnBzjIZA

Any chance you logged the oil temps before the header? I'd be interested to see if they drop with the coated header radiating less heat on the oil pan.

No I did not, I don't have any way to do so. I plan on putting some heat shield tape on the oil pan where the headers get close. Just for extra protection.

Do you have a tune?

Also, I should have started out saying this, thanks for adding info to the boards. :cheers:

No tune. It says so above :D

Great info. Thanks for the details. Mine are currently being coated... double coated actually. Header looks sexy in black :-)

I'm surprised you painted everything, springs and all. I opted not to coat internally and contact points including springs.

One thing I did notice is that before the coating, you were able to twist the headers due to the slip joints. After the coating, they were stiff. When installing it was a pain to get it lined up right. My father had to hold the system from above while I gently hit one side with a soft rubber mallet. As I tightened the headers down, I could hear the coating "crinkling" (as if twisting something that's spray painted) and I realized the coating had bonded everything together at the slip joints, defeating the purpose of them -lol. Once it was installed there were no more issues, nothing flaked off. Im sure after a few heat cycles everything will be fine. As of this morning no leaks anywhere.

I think the best route for coating is to coat the pieces individually and take care not to coat the slip joint areas. Then put them back together (make sure you score the "1" that ptuning mentioned because the coating will cover it) and put the joints back in.

Now I've got to figure out what to do about the rasp. I was okay in the Z car sounding like an OG Ricer...but now that I own a new car is just feels lame...hahahaha

Turbo :thumbsup:

Really though I'm not sure how you tackle that. Vid? I'd like to hear the full PTuning exhaust 3" with NA too. I'll be sure to get some quality sound videos with PTuning turbo kit and exhaust setup.

Yeah a 3" catless NA system would just be too loud.

I'm an NA freak, so I won't ever be going FI.

Making a vid might be hard, but I'll see what I can do eventually.

So last night I couldn't stand it anymore. I checked for leaks and didn't find any. The damn exhaust just sounds raspy as hell. Sounds like all the stupid fast and furious hondas.

I bit the bullet and ordered an HKS front pipe with dual resonators from ftpseedfactory. Crossing my fingers that this will work (and get here quickly), lol.

So heed this warning if you want to go catless....you MUST RESONATE your exhaust unless you want it to sound like a tin can and you dont have a turbocharger on it.

THIS is what it sounds like (ive got the same setup minus header brand)

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl3I2_wTAIw"]HKS EL, Perrin Unresonated 2.5" catback, Motiv catless front pipe, Perrin overpipe. - YouTube[/ame]

and that souds like shit, lol.

As far as all the tree huggy hippies go...there is zero smell with windows up from removing the cats. Windows down every once in a while theres a slight smell. But if you read the post above, I used to drive a built 280Z that didn't seal nearly as well as a new car does. Cars/Driving/Gas smell go together...like WWII bombers/gunpowder smell/avgas smell

The sound scares me, if my FR-S was a dedicated track car I don't think i'd care much, however being a street car first and foremost I want a nice smooth sound.

Keep us updated, hopefully the resonated HKS front pipe helps.

That's how any of the catless headers are going to sound on this car with no resonators or cats.

I wouldn't say that as I have the Perrin exhaust with a rather long resonator in the middle.

If anything, when removing cats from this car you need to use MULTIPLE resonators to not get the fart-sound

I miss having a straight-6 :sigh:

Sorry, I just saw the video title and assumed you had the same.

My friend runs HKS catless header plus full HKS exhaust, including the front pipe w/ dual resonators. Pretty loud, but sounds more like a purposeful track car than fart can, and I have pretty low tolerance for fart cans.

How much did Performance Coatings charge you to coat the header and overpipe? They are close to me and I'm considering having them coat mine. Looks good.

Just $180. This is the second set of headers they've done for me.

EDIT: I should edit that I supplied my own shipping label. I'm too lazy to drive down from Marietta, lolz

Updated my orginial post with more picutres to show clearance with oil pan.

I have now installed the HKS dual resonated front pipe and I must say the car sounds sexy as crap. ZERO drone, ZERO rasp. If you want to run catless, you MUST use the HKS front pipe. I choice this over the Helmholtz design because I like the weight savings and clean look. I will say with the perrin resonator, this is the PERFECT NA catless exhaust setup (for me anyways)!

I presume a video will be added to show off said sexiness? http://www.acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/wish.gif

Also, in for updates.

Absolutely. I've got a date with TopSpeed motorsports on Nov25th to tune the car (full ecutek tune).

I plan on taking a video of it making a dyno run (if they let me in the back while they're working on it).

New video with the hks installed please! I plan on doing a build very similar to yours.

Absolutely. I've got a date with TopSpeed motorsports on Nov25th to tune the car (full ecutek tune).

I plan on taking a video of it making a dyno run (if they let me in the back while they're working on it).

Video posted in the bottom of the orginal post of the new exhaust!

Will post actual video of the car on dyno on the 25th!

Are you running form the police in this vid? :burnrubber: LOL

But, yea, much better sound. Very anxious to see the dyno results.:thumbup:

No, just a cop driving by to a call

:burnrubber:

Expect around 190whp on 93 octane.

I'm honestly hoping for a tad bit more unless you know something I don't? :popcorn:

I was under the impression that ptuning made 200 to the ground with just their header-back on the car....though I have yet to see an independent dyno of their header system.

I guess I might be the first one?

Just what I've seen from other local 86's with catless header and 2.5" headerback tuned by TSM with pump gas on their Dynojet. You may get a bit more but I think it's optimistic to expect 200+whp without E85. I hope they can do it!

Updated the OP to reflect the test I did today. Two tempatures showed higher. Not sure why the sway bar one did...im thinking its such a small area to capture the tempature, I might have recorded some of the overpipe....as for the radiator support center, the headers are MUCH closer to this than stock so that is understandable.

The main part of the headers was only 260 degrees. Where all the bends are tucked up under the pulley was where I recorded the highest temp. Overall I am happy. Intake filter tempature being 60 degrees for sitting in an engine compartment not moving is good. I can only imagine what it would be moving. +1 for ceramic coatings and heatshield tape.

Update:

I decided to take it one step further and wrap the headers with DEI Ti wrap. I used it on my motorcycles and it make a big difference....I'm planning on running my tests again


https://scontent-atl1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...1c&oe=55E9B621

https://scontent-atl1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...6c&oe=55E93195

Looks good man, waiting for the temps

Hi, I am about to receive this header and planning the coating. I think your recommendation of taking it apart for the coat will be the best route. Can you clarify what you mean by "score the "1""?

Do you know if there is a specific procedure to follow when taking the joints apart/together?

Also, what ever happened after your tuning session?

Honestly I dont remember what I meant by that. I would say take the header apart at the slip joints. If they can, mask off the areas where the slip joint is so the coating doesn't affect the sealing ability/tolerances.

The car has yet to be properly tuned. Only E-tuning which IMO is a waste of time/money.

The slip joints are quite simple. Just a bar and some bolts/nuts.