What would you do?
I have a STS kit. Right now I have Gibbson shorty stainless steel headers on my truck. Should have them ceramic coated? Should I put back on the stock manifolds? Or should I have the stock manifolds ceramic coated and put back on? Its going to cost $180 to $220 to have them coated. They will put two or three coats on the outside for a maximum thickness of .012. Do you think I will gain much having the coated for the $200?
I also am going to rap and paint my exhaust pipes back to the turbo.

 

I would definitely have them ceramic coated or just buy a set of edelbrocks that are already coated. It is the way to go!

 

The Gibson shorties may flow slightly better than ther stock cast iron, but even coated they may not hold heat as well.
Holding heat in your exhaust pipes helps flow of the exhaust, you should notice that once your turbo is warmed up it builds boost quicker, don't confuse this with getting your turbo and your engine really hot, just up to operating temerature.
This is true for your exhaust as well. Cold manifolds and pipes pull the intial heat from warm up away from the turbo making it take a little longer to warm the system. The coating will help but the heat tape will probably do more.
The last thing is that I have had the STS ceramic coating peel up from the piping when it was wraped.
It must hold condensation if you don't get the exhaust hot enough to evaporate it, so beware of the coating issues too.

 

I'd run the stock manifolds, I don't think the gain with the coating would be worth the cost. Stockers work great on my truck, But I'd recommend the header wrap from manifolds back.

 

I would port the stock manifolds and coat them.

 

Lol, I knew you where going to post those Billy. There are very nice BTW

 

I didnt mean to be predictable To me, its the best solution.
I think if I do another set, it will just be the porting, and not taking the bumps off. That was the PIA part.

 

[/QUOTE]

Is there that much mis-match between the head and exhaust manifolds??
If so I have some die-grinding to do this winter.

 

Dam thats a great ideal. Those look great. It look like you had the inside coated to. Isn't that a little dangerous if it flakes off and the turbo sucks it up? Is that ceramic coating?
Looks like you just made more work for me to do.

 

TG02Z71, I just ground off where it was black from the exhaust. There was quite a bit on top and bottom, but not much on the sides.
Blue 01, it is ceramic coating. Souldnt have any issues with it coming off. These are double coated also.