• Welcome to the new SAOCA website. Already a member? Simply click Log In/Sign Up up and to the right and use your same username and password from the old site. If you've forgotten your password, please send an email to membership@sunbeamalpine.org for assistance.

    If you're new here, click Log In/Sign Up and enter your information. We'll approve your account as quickly as possible, typically in about 24 hours. If it takes longer, you were probably caught in our spam/scam filter.

    Enjoy.

Ceramic coated headers.

V

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
Hi Guys,

I apologize for not explaining about the ceramic coating on the headers. The ceramic coating is a process that I don't do. I have a shop in Seattle, Wa. that does the best work, and the owner gives my friends and customers my wholesale price. I don't make any money on this process, so I let my customers deal directly with Brad Gua, the owner. The last time I got a quote from Jet Hot, they wanted $200 for the pair, and that didn't include shipping. I wonder how much they would want for it today. Brad charges about $135 for the process, and that includes shipping, if you choose the flat black finish, (which I personally recommend, because it is the best at controling the heat),

Ceramic coating has several benefits over other coatings. Ceramic coating will reduce the heat under the hood, because the coating insulates the header. The process is an immersion process, so they are coated inside and out. When the heat is maintained inside the pipes, it maintains the velocity of the charge, making the scavenging in the collector more efficient, which adds a bit more power.

The coating will also protect the headers much better than any other coating you can put on them. The coating will last about ten times longer than Chrome and High temp paints. The one thing I want to stress, is that if you are not going to mount the headers right away, it is a good idea to put them indoors in a dry warm environment, so that they don't sweat. The owner of the shop said that the coating has to be cured before it will be totally impervious to moisture. Once they have been cured, (when the engine gets them good and hot), you can forget about them for years.

I think the coating is a good idea, since the headers are the most costly part of the kit, and you don't want to have to replace them soon.

When you order your kit, be sure to tell me if you want your headers coated, so I can then ship them to the coating shop to have them done. I will do this as a service to my customers.

Jose :)
 
dmich2

dmich2

Donation Time
Thanks for the post Jose. Will Brad do an old set of headers? And if so, could you give me a phone number, address or email address so I can contact him?


Dennis
 
birdfan56

birdfan56

Platinum Level Sponsor
Thanks for the update Jose. I contacted Brad on friday. He was very helpful and ready to take on the orders as soon as the kits are shipped to him. The timing is excellent as my engine is ready to be picked up from the rebuilder as we speak. 2008 promises another sunbeam reborn! kevin
 
V

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
dmich2 said:
Jose. I was doing some surfing and hit on this site; http://www.performancecoatings.com/pci.html

The contact email is to a 'Brad" . Is this the outfit you refer to?

Thanks,
Dennis
Click to expand...
Hi Dennis,

I don't know if Brad will do a used set of headers. I know that other processes will not allow the use of used ones, because of the exhaust gases that have coated the inside. I would ask Brad to see if he would, and yes, it is the same guy. He does a great job.

Jose :)
 
V

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
birdfan56 said:
Thanks for the update Jose. I contacted Brad on friday. He was very helpful and ready to take on the orders as soon as the kits are shipped to him. The timing is excellent as my engine is ready to be picked up from the rebuilder as we speak. 2008 promises another sunbeam reborn! kevin
Click to expand...
Hi Kevin,

The second set of six, should be done by the beginning of next week, so as soon as they are done, I will have them shipped to Brad, and he will work his magic. The first five sets will go to those who didn't want their headers coated. I think they should see thier headers next week sometime.


Jose :)
 
chris

chris

Donation Time
I have a set of ceramic coated headers that I bought from Jose when I ordered the kit. Like the rest of his kit they look and work great.
 
Jim E

Jim E

Donation Time
Jose,
hate to come counter to you but I do not think folks should order the headers coated unless they already have the engine fitted and are going to light it off in short order. My coated headers got rust freckles after they heat cycled, the freckles did not show up for a few months after I got the car driving. Called the coater and he said he sees this on show cars that never get heat cycled and he figured mine did it because the headers sat for a long while and absorbed moisture before they were heat cycled. He also was very nice and said to send them back to be coated again at no charge.

Then there is the number of chips my headers got in the coating due to the number of times the engine went in the car well actually they were used to fit an engine in three cars. My headers also could have used a slight ding on one header tube to be able to fit a box end wrench on a header bolt, but once they are coated any minor adjustment like that cannot be done with out damage to the coating. Have only seen my headers from this coater but it seems to be pretty darn thin when compared to any other coated header I have seen. Would go with the silver were I to do it again, I think. Would also use a local coater just because it would be easy and quicker and if I had a problem could just drive there and say "Look...

All coaters I know of will do used headers they just will not stand up if there is a problem.
 
V

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
Hi jim,

I will be talking to Brad tomorrow morning, and will bring up your concerns. I will see what he says about them. I don't want to promote something, if it has problems. I will let you all know what he says.

Jose :)
 
Jim E

Jim E

Donation Time
I want to be clear I am not saying he has a bad product, well the only question I have is the thickness of the material and maybe it is correct. Think the two main issues is the banging them up and the time it takes us to heat cycle the coating oh and then if you decide to do any mods to the headers after they are coated you are in trouble. Really the folks I talked to there were as nice as pie
 
V

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
Hi Guys,

I spoke with Brad this morning. He said that the black coating that he and I recommend for best heat control, is only .0015 thick. If it were thicker, he says that it wouldn't expand and contract wioth header and would end up peeling off. This particular finish is thin, but the chrome like polished finish, is a bit thicker, but it is a different finish.

He said that ceramic coatings would still rust, if they were kept in a very moist environment, but would still last longer than other coatings. Once the coating is heat cycled, they will last longer. The only thing that would affect a heat cycled coating, is if the engine has a very lean intake charge, which will cause the header to run excessively hot and distroy the ceramic coating.

BTW, he said he can do used headers, and that the finish will las as long as new headers. He says that he almost prefers used headers, because the metal has cured and gotten rid of internal gases. I would imagine that he is takling about cast iron manifolds, but am not sure.

Jose :)
 
dmich2

dmich2

Donation Time
I receieved an email from him today and he said as you stated Jose. He will do used ones. Now, I need to decide when to pull them, send them off and re-install AND run them to 'cure' them. So much going on with Sweet Pea. I better make a list...:eek:

Dennis
 
dmich2

dmich2

Donation Time
Jose. Do you know if Brad is still with this outfit? I emailed him with some questions and I have not received any answers. He could be busy. Just asking.

Hope all is well.

Dennis
 
MikeH

MikeH

Diamond Level Sponsor
I got a reply from him February 3rd. Had to resend my email to him, apparently never received the first one. You may be better off calling. 253-735-1919
 
V

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
Hi Dennis,

Brad is the owner, so if he isn´t there, it´s because they´re out of business. I don´t know why he isn´t answering, but I would do as Mike suggested. Give him a call.

Jose
 
Y

Yenko

Donation Time
Answer from Brad...

Hello guys,

I have received an answer from Brad for my headers on march 3, 2009 asking me to send him the money for S/H...so he must be alive!!!

But since, nothing from him nor the headers...
 
T

TomKidd

Donation Time
I got my headers

Hey, just received my headers, they look great! I chose the satin gray ice colour and I'm very happy with the way they turned out. Sort of bare steel colour.
Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top