Aftermarket headers, plasma white ceramic coat no blanket req?!

I would post this up in the technical Q&A section for more hits.

 

I've used ceramic coated headers on two of my racecars. I left the first set white, which got discolored quickly. I painted the second set flat black, with hi temp exhaust paint. Color does not make a difference, since they are not subject to external radiant heat. The principal heat transfer mechanisms are conductive and convective.

 

Maybe this helps a bit

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430/436216-360-fabspeed-header-heat-data-point.html

 

Agree, color is more of a preference. In the "old days", headers were painted white for a reason: so you could easily see when cracks formed as the exhaust would leave a carbon trail.

Insulator blankets have several potential benefits, and reducing engine bay temps is only one of them. Another is to reduce fire hazard risk. A relatively small amount of oil that leaks onto a header can ignite quickly and engulf a car in flames. A header blanket theoretically reduces this risk by absorbing the oil and lessening chance of combustion.

 

I usually tell my customers that if they are using my header blankets while their car burns down, they will have a nice set of headers and blankets they can sell afterwards! LOL, but I can also highly recommend the blankets for track cars, their effective heat range is much higher.

 

What's the cost difference between the two?

 

I think the blankets look cool apart from the obvious benefits.
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I installed a set of Fabspeed headers with white ceramic coating last month. No blankets.

I have not tracked the car, but did do a 500 mile spirited run a few Sundays ago and felt that the engine compartment temp was lower. Normally, when I shut down, I pop the lid and it was not "fried egg on glass" hot.

 

Like it!

 

Be interesting to see what keeps the engine bay cooler, the blanket wrap or the ceramic coating?

 

From crewing on 2 land speed record cars, one a 700hp 370 inch Rodac Chevy Lakester and the other a Falconer 250 inch 1300hp Chevy in a Streamliner any coating tried was nowhere near as effective as wraps and blankets.

 

Still wrap would make the bay cooler... But how much, and is it necessary? Blankets also take up more space and I imagine restrict some of airflow around the headers which might otherwise be beneficial. I'm sure no one has done a before and after test on a 360/430 that is reliable... So it just depends what you are comfortable with. I went with white ceramic, skipped the blankets, and cut a couple of naca ducts in the front portion of the floor (in the challenge locations) to promote airflow at speed and take some of the heat away from the alternator.

 

I like to think of the blankets as a preventative maintenance item for street cars.They do give piece of mind to people who use their cars in a more aggressive manner or environment for extended time periods. Personally, I would consider them necessary for track cars and well worth the investment.

 

If those headers were coated by Zircotec I hope you checked the interior for debris before installing them. See link.
Alan

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/288gto-f40-f50-enzo-laferrari/396915-f40-lm-restoration-93.html

 

I recently installed (by local Indie) Fabspeed headers and a new Ferrari Racing Exhaust on my 360. Dealers have been selling the racing exhaust for about half price. The headers were ceramic coated, wrapped in exhaust header tape followed by blankets. After driving and popping the rear deck lid, the engine bay is way cooler than previously with most of the heat evolved probably coming from the components other than the headers. It is noticeable. I like the new set up a lot and it should help preserve the life of the air conditioning compressor and alternator which are relatively close to the headers.

 

It's joe at fabspeed Motorsport.

I designed and dyno developed fabspeed Ferrari headers long ago and everything is fabricated from type 304 L (L signifies low carbon) .

We have installed and sold many polished sets therefore un coated polished of ferrari 355, 360 and 430 headers and have had no problems in any drivers education and hot and humid environments. No fires and no issues or I would have heard about it and been sued.

My 360 spider has had polished uncoated headers on it for years with absolutely no ill affects. None whatsoever. Fabspeed designed and offers stainless steel reflective heat shields for the A/C compressor and alternator for our Ferrari 355 and 360 headers.

On the 430 and 458 Ferrari moved all these components far away so heat is a non issue.

With all the above Ferrari owners can of course get their high performance headers ceramic coated by numerous vendors and of course that helps insulate and keep some of the heat generated inside the header tubes. Fabspeed offers that service as well.

Finally last year our engineers designed, engineered and tested aerospace style thermal
blankets for Ferrari 355, 360 and 430 headers. These fabspeed Ferrari header blankets are super simple to install and remove. You first install our headers and then our blankets are supr simple to install as they are designed to wrap around the header primary pipes and have stainless steel springs and attachment clips. It's a doit yourself project. Our blankets should work on any and all aftermarket Ferrari headers.

Bottom line you can run polished, get headers coated and or install thermal blankets. No matter what a good set of headers really wakes up the sportscar sound, power and protects your Ferrari engine versus OEM headers. Cruise by our shop I have all kinds of factory Ferrari headers cut open and our systems to be viewed side by side.