Ceramic Coating - Exhaust Yes or No?

[Ghost-Geezer]

  Opinions Vary.  Whadayathink?

[MJ Williams]

After doing tons of research (Google) I couldn't come up with any evidence, that was not provided by the folks doing the coating, that it makes a difference in power. No real before and after tests. The only positive I came up with is, it does prevent some heat from radiating out the exhaust system and this came from the guys at a shop up here that does stupid fast Honda turbo cars. They do it to help prevent heat build up under the hood which does cost cars hp.
 
After weighing pros and cons I drank the Kool-Aid and I sent my pipe to Swain Tech and had it coated if nothing else to keep some heat out of the radiator.

Still trying to convince myself if it was worth the money!

[#1busa]

Keeps down heat and IMO looks trick too. Not sure about actual HP gains etc. but my guess is they would be Marginal @ best. I know a lot of guys get their turbos & Dump pipes coated.  Been wanting to send my Ti-Force out to get done but I keep spending the $$$ on other stuff 4 my Busaa 

[Falcon-A]

I can tell you this about ceramic coatings.
 I have done engines where we coated the combustion chambers, valve faces, tops of pistons and exhaust ports, headers inside and out.

 It works.

 My brother is an over the road trucker, the enjoys a lot of power. He recently bought a ceramic coated exhaust manifold for his Cat, and he said it was so noticeable, that the $1200 he spent was well worth it!

 He says his turbo definitely spools much quicker, and his under hood temps went way down. That is the reason to do it. I plan to do my Busa header and exhaust housing on the turbo also. I just haven't had time to take it apart to send it out.   

[Ghost-Geezer]

Falcon-AAA,
                      Now that is very interesting.  I was thinking of exhaust headers only.  Thank you for your input.  That was very informative and considerate.   

Dave
             

[fvance]

I coat all my pipes. Being a salty guy it really helps preserve the pipes. The chrome looking seems to last the best.

[MJ Williams]

Beyond keeping the heat down under the hood, the corrosion resistance and the feeling the coating has increased hp, what are the measureable gains? Especially in an N/A motorcycle application. I do understand where it would be helpful in turbo applications. Maybe not in ultimate hp but in a time to boost/acceleration measurement.
Just being the devil's advocate.

[SEJ]

Beyond keeping the heat down under the hood, the corrosion resistance and the feeling the coating has increased hp, what are the measureable gains? Especially in an N/A motorcycle application. I do understand where it would be helpful in turbo applications. Maybe not in ultimate hp but in a time to boost/acceleration measurement.
Just being the devil's advocate.

It keeps the exhaust gas velocities up, which in turn creates better scavenging...hence more HP.

[Ghost-Geezer]

The velocity of the escaping exhaust gases was what I was thinking about also...............the more heat, the more expansion, and the more velocity to escape downstream, thereby helping the engine to do it's job of sucking the intake charge in on the downward stroke of the piston with an additional vacume created by the exiting exhaust gases during valve overlap.

Just a thought.

[Rocketgeezer]

I used to do a new set of headers that were homebuilt or sometimes got them chromed, I also did piston tops in my nitrous motors, results were inconclusive, it may have taken a bit longer but if it happened to get lean for a moment they still melted, so personal experience is it will keep a pipe or whatever part looking good, but concerning any performance gain ????????????

[Ghost-Geezer]

Well, it would appear we are all in agreement.

It may or may not help, but it does not apparently hurt anything except for the cost.

[SEJ]

Well, it would appear we are all in agreement.

It may or may not help, but it does not apparently hurt anything except for the cost.

And it doesn't burn as bad when you accidentally touch it!!