Header coatings

Hello All,
Where/who is the best in exhaust header coating. The headers I need aren't offered pre-coated as far as I have found(Dodge van headers). I saw a demonstration on the VHT Ceramic coating, but I have never had luck with any kind of paints before, and want something that will lower the pipe temps to try and lower the heat penetration into the van. And protect the headers from rust and such. Got a quote from Jet-Hot. More than the cost of the headers!!
Thank You!!

Jet hot if the budget permits or VHT. I believe the JH process will reduce the heat more if choosing the inside coating option.
We have had great success with both and are the only two methods we use. If using VHT make sure the surface is prepped and clean.

Plazma sprayed zirconium dioxide probably provides the most insulative heat reduction. Its certainly the most durable. Its a commerical process but Zircotech (UK) and Swain (US) specifically market to automotive aftermarket.

Ceramic good for me

Had the Cramic coat done in Conn many moons ago.

Is That their white coating? Any idea how it retains its appearance when in use? ie stains, discolor, etc?

Swain's only available in white. It can be painted. They call their exhaust coating "White Lightning" and for some reason they don't like talking about what it really is.
Zircotech is pretty straight forward about their exhaust coatings. http://www.zircotec.com/products-services/for-the-road/exhaust-coatings/
I'm sure there are differences in exact composition and other details.

I have had plasma sprayed headers twice, once Swaintech's and years ago Blackjack's Alumi-coat. Unfortunately in both cases the headers didn't fit right and so don't have personal experience with the performance over time. I'm selling the shorties with the White Lightning so someday someone can tell us. There's no obvious reason why the color would change but the rough surface easily can retain grease and similar dirt.

Properties of TBCs at ST

Blackjack's old "Alumi-Kote" discussed briefly and pictured in Ceramic Coatings Worth It? on FABO.

Used these guys 15-20 years back.

http://www.headercoatings.com/pages/Motor_Sports

The coating still looks good and the price was really reasonable.

I paid a visit to Zircotec's stand at AutoSport last January and they've explained me that their strengths are on the heritage they have from F1 and Motorsport coatings.
They still do coat for F1 and NASCAR, along with a extensive range of Motorsports team they can't disclose (although their stand was packed with people from teams).
they've told me they apply a plasma-spray ceramic coating, which melts the ceramic cat 10,000°C and then it is projected twice the speed of sound to the metal. When that hot paste reaches the metal, it solidifies and gets the thermal barrier coating benefits. They seemed really professional, they know what they're doing and I felt that might be a good solution.
They've stated their coatings can reduce up to 33% on the surface temperature... which is pretty impressive.
Also, on the same show, saw a lot of FSAE teams that had their coatings.

Don't have the budget (for now) to go on that ride but, soon enough... Who knows?

No place better than QC Coatings in Mi. Around $250. Quality and service are unsupassed.
Doug

The OP asked about heat reduction. The nature of the construction of headers results in much greater surface area and less mass. That's hard to overcome with a coating. Further, a polymer bound coating will be thin and so have little insulating value. The pipe outside temperature is unlikely to be measurable reduced. However, because the polymers (and most fillers) have poor conduction compared to the steel, there will be a reduction in transfer to the air. The ceramic coating with no binder is thicker so should provide more insulation. Whether it reduces transfer to the air better or worse than the polymer coatings would need to be tested.

The third means of heat transfer is the radiated heat. Generally, lighter, brighter surfaces are the poorest in radiating and absorbing radiated heat. Chromed pipes and highly reflective gold, silver and white surfaces would be the best in reducing the radiated heat. So lining the firewall and doghouse of the van with these materials would reduce the radiated heat to the interior. That won't help the conducted and convected heat transfer. Blankets and other insulations are the best for that. But wrapping the pipes can shorten their life, so its a tradeoff.

If you want to do it yourself, you can't go wrong with www.techlinecoatings.com

Thank You all for the suggestions and information!! I will check out the companies suggested.

I used a company out of St Augustine Florida years back called Baxter Engineering. They had an aerospace type coating that is still perfect over 20 years later on my Dusters headers despite being banged on mercilessly. It wasn't cheap then, over $450 but sadly they are no longer in business. Wish I could find that again.