Convince me about ceramic coatings
 

Six months ago I gave ALL of my turbo hot parts to my brother for bead blasting and ceramic coating through someone he knows. Today I finally get my shit back in the same condition it left my possession in and I'm really pissed. The weather has gone to complete shit in the interim (80 - 98F > 80% Humidity) and I'm damn ready to get started on this.

I still have a ton of work that needs to be completed so I can maybe has some boosts.. My plan was to have the compressor housing, turbine housing, exhaust manifold, and some misc parts bead blasted and ceramic coated. Should I even bother? I figured maybe it might keep my engine bay temps down but I don't know. Right now really I almost don't give a shit anymore about it and just want to get it on!

Still need to:
Test fit manifold
test fit turbo
weld turbo flange on manifold
test fit EWG
weld EWG flange on manifold
Cut reliefs in manifold to head flange
enlarge flange holes
build downpipe
build EWG downpipe
buy test pipe & downpipe flange from enthuza
make intercooler mount
mount intercooler
learn to wire weld aluminum
cut, fit, weld intercooler piping
Hope it doesn't blow up the first second...


Without the manifold, turbo, dp, or any of that I could mount the intercooler and get the cold pipes finished up... Can anyone convince me one way or another to have the parts coated or not? Will it really be worth the time and hassle? :crx: I searched around a bit but can't find a definitive 'yes its totally worth the time money and hassle' post or thread..

.0010 thickness of ceramic coating = not gonna do shit IMO

Worried about temps? Make a head shield to cover the churbo/manifold. If something like that was holding up my build i would definetly scrap the idea of ceramic coating.

Why did it take you 6 months to get your shit back? I would be calling him every day and if a week went by with no progress made i would of asked for it back. Hope you didnt give him money up front...

Believe that I like the way you think.

Negative on the $$ upfront, it was actually a favor so I let it slide.. Then started calling my brother asking where is my shit... Then progressed to me calling the guy he knows asking where my shit is... Then I showed up at the blaster's door looking for my shit. Now I have my shit and I want it installed. Three years too long I've been waiting to complete this project, at least in the mean time I've done a lot to the car suspension wise. :D

Okay so 2 votes total for abandon ceramic coating.. Should I even ask for more? :giggle:

I had all my stuff done just to keeping from rusting and looking like ass. It does seem to help some. My mastercylinder hasn't melted and the DP is fairly close to it.

I had my Turbo Outlet and Exhaust Manifold ceramic coated. I've never really owned a turbo car w/o it so I can't say forsure if it makes a difference. I will say that one of my heater hoses was pressed up against the turbo outlet for about 800 miles without me noticing and it didn't burn threw... so I guess maaybe it helps... but no data to back that up :D

I just had my BEGi mani and turbo ceramic coated after totalling the car it was installed on at first. Figured that this new car is cleaner and has low miles so for cosmetic reason I opted for ceramic coating.

Well all told, it is hella cooler in the engine bay now. For sure I have seen a difference and would go that route if you have time and can afford it.

I also waited a while for my coating to be done but I had plenty of time to do everything else... coolant bypass, power steering cooler, lines and plumbing, drill + tap pan, install coil-overs, install sways, clay + wax car, get a tan... a lot of shit can be done while waiting...

Anyhow, just my experience...

Cheers,
Prospero

not true. surface conditions seriously affect radiant heat transfer--and that's most of what you're dealing with on a turbo exhaust. want proof? stick your hand in your engine bay at full throttle and see if it's hot.

I vote for ceramic coating - only because it looks better than rust. It will do some for heat, but not a whole lot. You are better off with a heat shield.
Stephanie

Here's a thread on m.net where a guy showed his Locost manifold and downpipe's ceramic coating after one track session and it wasn't pretty. Definitely better than rust, but he ended up re-doing his with some 1500 degree rattle can paint and properly baking it in and it looked better than the ceramic coating even months later. Of course you would still need to get it blasted even before doing that so it may not help much.

If the base metal wasn't prepared properly then it won't adhere properly. When done correctly it is pretty much permanent.

swain white lighting is supposed to actually work because it goes on thick. Its not cheap though.

i had whatever ETD's silvery coating was on my manifold and it's still largely intact and looks fine. except where I hacked and welded but we wont discuss this.

Swaintech White Lightning. /end thread

Ceramic coating to me seems like a waste of time. It may have some effect on temp, but not nearly as much as some shields would. I say prep it yourself and rattle can some ceramic paint on the parts to hide the rust. If it burns off after 5k miles, it was only a can of paint.

Well I'm defiantly going to put a blanket over my turbine housing, that silver thermal shit on the heater hoses, and wrap the shit out of my brake master cylinder. Also been thinking about building some shields like neogenesis did from some aluminum sheet I've got laying around.

My big concerns are the manifold which is made from iron weld-els and the downpipe / wastegate piping which are all mild steel tubing.

Just don't wanna go through all of this work to watch it rust away. I don't like the idea of turbo or header wrap, I've had two different sets of headers crack and rust through with that stuff. Maybe it wasn't related?

Used to try header wrap on motorcycles....it greatly accelerates corrosion.

Just go with heat shields. I ran for a month without one and was fine. I make 200mile round trip commutes to school and nothing got burnt.

Eastwood has a product that is the poor mans alternative to ceramic coating. It's called manifold dressing.
I'll try and take a shot of my manifold when I get home. It doesn't do shit for heat, but makes the manifold look a bit better.

get a new brother

Swain Tech. I had their WL coating on a manifold/DP/and exh. housing, and also had their gold coat and blk body emitter on pistons and intercooler.

Ceramic coatings are completely different from a heatshield. They, serve in different ways. Most people will never have a true need for the ceramic, other than rust prevention, but it can greatly improve performance.

There is a reason that ALL real racecars use coatings inside and out.

Swaintech shit is so expensive and you have to send it to them to get it done. Go to this site http://www.techlinecoatings.com/approved/appappna.htm , find an approved applicator near you, and send your stuff to them. Usually less than a week turn around from my experience. I was able to get pistons triple coated or the same price as just a Swaintech top coat.

Techline is a very reputable company that has been in the coatings business for a long time. They do not do applications themselves, but distribute their products for shops to be able to offer coating as a service. You can even buy the coatings yourself. The wisecos I got triple coated I think ran me like $150 for all three coatings for the whole set.