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.