I guess the sarcasm was lost in the typing...

 

[quote name='89 Rag' date='Sep 14 2005, 12:50 AM']304 ceramic coated stainless sounds like an all around great product to me.



Why would anyone need to complain about a great product?


[/quote]



Good question....

 

304SS is a great metal, im not complaining about the lack of using mild steel.



Im trying to understand why if you coat mild steel it wont up its performance?



basically everyone here is saying mild steel is utterly useless, even if coated? that my friend is ludicrous. yes i said it. ludicrous.



kevin.

 

[quote name='teknics' date='Sep 15 2005, 12:35 PM']304SS is a great metal, im not complaining about the lack of using mild steel.



Im trying to understand why if you coat mild steel it wont up its performance?



basically everyone here is saying mild steel is utterly useless, even if coated? that my friend is ludicrous. yes i said it. ludicrous.



kevin.


[/quote]



It will up the performance, a little, but it's still heavy, so it's kind of a wash there.



304 by itsself is pretty damn good to start with...



ceramic coated 304 is just the icing on the cake, imo.

 

Im not saying mild steel is bad, just that SS is better. I fail to see where using using a material that better matches the intended use is a problem.



N/a rotaries run sky high EGT's. You cant wrap mild steel headers on a n/a because they will sag under their own weight at the temp they can reach. Stainless holds its strength through a higher temperature range than mild steel, so its better suited to a n/a header system. Turbos run considerably cooler EGT's, and mild steel(coated or not) has less problems with the heat.



Coatings slow the rate of heat transfer, but over time, the part can still reach the same temperature as if it wasnt coated. That is why stainless steel is a better choice than coated mild steel in my mind.

 

[quote name='mazdaspeed7' date='Sep 15 2005, 04:58 PM']Im not saying mild steel is bad, just that SS is better. I fail to see where using using a material that better matches the intended use is a problem.



N/a rotaries run sky high EGT's. You cant wrap mild steel headers on a n/a because they will sag under their own weight at the temp they can reach. Stainless holds its strength through a higher temperature range than mild steel, so its better suited to a n/a header system. Turbos run considerably cooler EGT's, and mild steel(coated or not) has less problems with the heat.



Coatings slow the rate of heat transfer, but over time, the part can still reach the same temperature as if it wasnt coated. That is why stainless steel is a better choice than coated mild steel in my mind.


[/quote]



See i agree that SS is better then mild steel, that wasn't my argument from the beginning. I have all 304SS tubing for my car right now, so its not like im saying mild is anywhere near the quality of 304SS.



I was simply saying coated mild is still "decent" if you're on a budget, and definitely better then regular old mild.



but if you have the resources, obviously coated 304SS would be awesome.



maybe that clarifies my stance better?



kevin.

 

[quote name='teknics' date='Sep 15 2005, 06:07 PM']See i agree that SS is better then mild steel, that wasn't my argument from the beginning. I have all 304SS tubing for my car right now, so its not like im saying mild is anywhere near the quality of 304SS.



I was simply saying coated mild is still "decent" if you're on a budget, and definitely better then regular old mild.



but if you have the resources, obviously coated 304SS would be awesome.



maybe that clarifies my stance better?



kevin.


[/quote]





I dont think there will be a big price difference between mild steel and SS, maybe along the lines of $40-$50 if that much. Depending on the R&D put into it(anythign above making it fit), and the price, it could be a small enough difference in price to make mild steel not worth it. Not to mention the mild steel really should be coated, which would put it on par price-wise with uncoated SS, and the SS will hold up better.



Im not tryign to make mild steel sound useless by any means, its just that the headers could very easily see temps at the upper limit of the usable range for mild steel.

 

My racing beat header that had that chromeish coating (that seems to last on any other engine header) is totally gone from my engine's EGTs



I had a few tuning issues too where I had the header glowing, and whatever it was coated with totally fell apart and all the steel is exposed





I can't just repaint the header the paint will fall apart..







I'd almost want to send my header to El for coating.. but for the shipping cost I'll bet I can buy one of these headers..



My only issue is, how far off is YOURs from the RB's flange mount area?

 

colin- have you tried the eastwood exaust manifold coating?

I put it on my HKS log, but obviously I have not had a chance to see it in action

 

i will look into that, thanks Rob





I have to do something, the header looks very ugly right now, half green from the burnt coating and half exposed steel WITH RUST FORMING. not cool.