Agency Power 430 Manifolds with Zircotec Ceramic Coating

I'm in the exact same situatuon as you. I also bought the AP headers from VR and then had them ceramic coated by Jet-Hot in Texas, USA. The coating I had applied is good up to 2500 degrees and the claim is it will reduce under hood temps by up to 65% over OEM. I chose white because it further increases the likelihood of that claim though less heat absorption. I have an IR thermometer as well, and plan to do the same as you. Can I post my before and after results here too?

 

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing data.


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I have the Capistro brackets too. These similarities are eerie. Jonathan White gets his AP headers coated black and Dale Black gets his AP headers coated white!

 

I'm sure this has been beaten to death, but what are your guys plans to deal with the CEL that will likely come up?

 

I have agency power headers and Kline exhaust. No check engine light issue ever. It's been a year since I installed the pair. Zero issues.

I have a post on my upgrade here somewhere.


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Thanks for the response.

In my experience with other cars, it always seems like that is hit and miss. Lots of variables always seem to play into it, the humidity, air temperature, even the minor differences between vehicles.

What I'm getting at is, I'd hate to spend the money on the headers and the labor only to end up chasing my tail with a CEL.

 

Are you running O2 extenders or mini-cats?


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I did my homework before doing this upgrade. If you do a search, not one member here reported getting a CEL after installing AP headers and Kline exhaust on an F430.

CEL issues appeared on Fabspeed headers and after market exhausts.

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No O2 extenders or mini cats. Just plain headers and original cats.

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Similar to all of you I hate chasing CEL faults so I do my research before doing mods. So far so good. No CEL.

I had a CEL pop up 3 months ago and it turned out to be dirty contacts on variator control solenoid valve connectors. Cleaned contacts with contact cleaner and CEL weren't away and maximum power is back.

Dan

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Well -- I've seen complaints of the CEL coming on and how to remedy it w Fabspeed headers . What is the difference between them and the Agency Power headers so this doesn't happen? It's got to be something .

 

I thought the AP and Fabspeed headers were the same? I believe some CEL's that result from such a simple upgrade have to do with the quality of the install. There are four sensors that need removed/protected/reinstalled without damage, 4 gaskets that need properly installed and aligned without air leaks, proper use of antiseize, not to mention properly torquing nuts and bolts - all which present opportunities to cause a CEL.

 

They are exactly the same. Fabspeed, Agency, IPE.

A variable would be back pressure downstream of the cats from the cat-back exhaust. Lambda sensors are sensitive to back pressure. The higher the pressure, the higher the concentration of O2, the the lower the O2 sensor output voltage.

The upstream O2 sensor is used to monitor rich/lean and gives the ECU the signal to switch from rich to lean momentarily as O2 from a lean condition is needed in the cat to burn CO and hydrocarbons. But lean too long and it doesn’t have enough fuel to breakdown Nox. The Downstream O2 sensor would have a more stable output signal and is primarily looking to see the right amount of oxygen in the exhaust even though the ECU is switching (minutely) back and forth from rich to lean.

I haven’t seen any data on back pressure per system, but my educated guess is that the exhaust systems with higher pitch have a higher back pressure to get that sound (unless it’s a true F1 engine spinning at 15,000 rpm). In a crude way, like a whistle.

Exhaust temp might have a small effect as well, temps would be higher with increasing back pressure, at higher temps the concentration of O2 would be higher due to more thorough catalytic ignition, to a point... the melting point.

So higher back pressure could mitigate the impact of removing the pre-cats.




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theres nothing about the AP headers that make less chance of getting a CEL.. they are all the same AP, Fabspeed etc..

which all have the header cat removed..

thus as mentioned above there are a ton of variables, why one car doesn't get any CEL while another does..
certainly running your stock cats/exhaust should help..

but as soon as you start adding, high flow cats, or straight pipes..etc.. can most definitely trigger CEL..

an aftermarket exhaust box only should not trigger any CEL..

only way for 99.99% solution is mini-cat spacers. when your changing headers and or cats

 

Excellent summary and I agree.

Thanks.

Dan

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and just to summarize my configuration: AP headers, Kline Exhaust, stock Cats. No CEL.

I also have Mase Engineering software tune for improved performance but has nothing to do with addressing any CEL issues.

Dan

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Is the coating on interior as well or just exterior?

 

2006 or earlier vs 2006 onwards makes a difference to how easily a CEL is triggered.

 

How so, Calibration?


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From what I've seen, the newer the F430 is, the higher the chances are for a CEL. I've also seen early F430's that have been confirmed to have newer software updates from Ferrari that have had a CEL triggered. So it likely comes down to which software version your individual F430 is running. I also have a feeling that the European based cars are likely less sensitive than the US based, but that's just a guess.

If a CEL is triggered, the O2 sensor spacers from Big Daddies Garage get the job done quite well. We've found they work the best out of the various O2 spacer options.

-James