View Poll Results: do you have coated or non coated pacesetters or some other brand
Voters: 101. You may not vote on this poll
coated pacesetter headers?
Originally Posted by Allergik2dyin
I may get flammed for this but if you wanna do it right the first time, get stainless steel headers. If you can't afford it, save up until you can afford them. BTW- Don't coated headers eventually start to flake and rust?
i agree with stainless, but i believe we are just talking pacesetters here, so in essence coated is better than non-coated 
I had painted hedmans on a 83 z28, I lost half the paint on them just installing them, within 3 months all the black was gone, turned a rusty color.
I'm never buying painted headers again. Hell the cost difference is easily made up by what a pain in the *** headers are to install. I don't know about LS1 cars, but installing BBK shorties in my 94 LT1 was aggravating.
I'm never buying painted headers again. Hell the cost difference is easily made up by what a pain in the *** headers are to install. I don't know about LS1 cars, but installing BBK shorties in my 94 LT1 was aggravating.
I have seen quite a few people complain about the coating rusting, and flaking..I ran Pacesetter coated LT's on my LT1 for quite a while and had no rust or anything. Also from the other coated headers I have had, they will last much longer if you can keep them clean. It was a tedious process, polishing the collectors and bottom of the primaries but I feel that may have made the difference in the longevity of the coating.
Originally Posted by Allergik2dyin
I may get flammed for this but if you wanna do it right the first time, get stainless steel headers. If you can't afford it, save up until you can afford them. BTW- Don't coated headers eventually start to flake and rust?
12 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 170
Likes: 1
From: Las Vegas
Originally Posted by BIG_MIKE2005
Coated is the way to go. They will last longer. Here is a pic of my Race style Pacesetter LT's from TSP.
Banned
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 73
Likes: 0
From: TX
Originally Posted by BlueB4C
Ok, so I am the fool everyone has been looking for. Yes I got the Uncoated but I got them to be a little different. I did it correctly though, I sanded down the crappy black paint that came on them (VERY thin coat that comes on them stock, please people if you buy them uncoated take some time and at least repaint them) I then put 3 coats of VHT black paint/ceramic coating, then heat wrapped them with the black DEI, then used 2 cans of the black DEI silicon spray that keep the moisture from rotting the wrap. SO feel free to tell me i'm an idiot because in the long run I spent just as much as if I woulda bought the coated ones, but I have gotten a ton of compliments and have never seen another set done this way.
It Was way more EXPENSIVE than Getting Them Coated...Specialy Buying A Bunch Of SS Zip Ties,5 cans of DEI silicon spray, And all the DEI Exhaust Wrap....
I was thinking on getting coated and swap them, But now that I saw that I'm not the only one, And People actually Complement that...
I Will Keep Them Now!
I Guess I'm not the only fool after all!
Thanks BlueB4C
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Well after a bit of looking at my headers from under the car (was swapping rotors last night), seems like the lower part of the primaries and the collectors aren't holding up too well 
They're pretty rusted up, although it looks mostly like surface rust, but pretty nasty. I'll get some pictures up this evening when I get home, but I think a swap to QTPs will be in order here when it gets warm.
For what I paid for the Pacesetters though, they were definitely worth it.
They're pretty rusted up, although it looks mostly like surface rust, but pretty nasty. I'll get some pictures up this evening when I get home, but I think a swap to QTPs will be in order here when it gets warm.For what I paid for the Pacesetters though, they were definitely worth it.
I've heard in the past header wrap tends to trap heat between the wrap and the tube causing stress cracks and warping to eventually happen. While the inside coating on coated headers keeps the heat in the coating. I see it has been a few months since you wrapped and installed your headers. How are they holding up blueb4c? I'm just curious.
TECH Regular
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 427
Likes: 0
From: B'ville, New York
I just got done doing the same thing that BlueB4C did cause my coated pacesetters have finally started to chip off where the collectors are due to road debris and this great NY weather, I guess after two years I shouldn't complain but i just ran out of money to get new coated headers when I'm still trying to get my motor put back together.
Originally Posted by B
they will last much longer if you can keep them clean. It was a tedious process, polishing the collectors and bottom of the primaries but I feel that may have made the difference in the longevity of the coating.
Polish steel everytime you park the car and it won't rust either. Let it cool , don't even touch it and spray bare steel with wd-40 they'll never rust either.
I've used bare headers forever and never had a set rust through. When they do surface rust it's uniform, unlike the jet hot coated big block headers I have now. Rusting. flaking garbage.
I don't have too many people putting their heads under my hood or car so I don't care what the finish looks like.
I have been wanting to wrap my headers for a while since i know they collect the heat and allow it to transfer further down the pipes than being released into the engine compartment. BlueB4C, have you noticed a large difference in heat from a wrapped header to a unwrapped header on LS1 engine bays? also how much did it cost you to do the whole wrapping and amount of time?
First off guys I am sorry to not get back to you, thought this thread died long ago.
Haha, welcome to the club man, nice to know someone else had that idea too.
They have held up phenomenally well, I put them on in March of last year so one year and 20,000 miles later they have zero rust (same cannot be said for the true duals unfortunately) The only thing I have a gripe with is the wrap on the driver side header is cut up from my damn garage because the angle to get into the thing is HUGE and my fat *** weighs the car down
I hear ya about the NY weather, it sucks. Although this year the car was only off the road for 2 and a half months, glad to hear another one joined the wrapped club too
Not a LARGE difference but there is a difference. You can damn near put yout hand on the primaries before you feel a good amount of heat coming off of them but there is still radiant heat in the engine bay from the radiator, block, etc.
As far as cost the headers were from SpeedINC I think I got them for like $250 or something on a price match, I got a special from a non-sponsor on DEI wrap that came with 50 feet of wrap, stainless steel ties and a can of black silicone DEI coating for $47, I ended up needing more wrap (I was 10 or so feet short ) so I bought another kit a couple weeks later because of the good price. The black VHT was like $7 I think and the whole project took me a few hours over 2 days (this included waiting for the paint to dry) Not too bad IMO.
Originally Posted by casado
I Guess I'm not the only fool after all!
Thanks BlueB4C
Thanks BlueB4C
Originally Posted by pddye
How are they holding up blueb4c? I'm just curious.
They have held up phenomenally well, I put them on in March of last year so one year and 20,000 miles later they have zero rust (same cannot be said for the true duals unfortunately) The only thing I have a gripe with is the wrap on the driver side header is cut up from my damn garage because the angle to get into the thing is HUGE and my fat *** weighs the car down
Originally Posted by Mike2000Z28
I just got done doing the same thing that BlueB4C did cause my coated pacesetters have finally started to chip off where the collectors are due to road debris and this great NY weather
Originally Posted by reject
BlueB4C, have you noticed a large difference in heat from a wrapped header to a unwrapped header on LS1 engine bays? also how much did it cost you to do the whole wrapping and amount of time?
As far as cost the headers were from SpeedINC I think I got them for like $250 or something on a price match, I got a special from a non-sponsor on DEI wrap that came with 50 feet of wrap, stainless steel ties and a can of black silicone DEI coating for $47, I ended up needing more wrap (I was 10 or so feet short
) so I bought another kit a couple weeks later because of the good price. The black VHT was like $7 I think and the whole project took me a few hours over 2 days (this included waiting for the paint to dry) Not too bad IMO. Last edited by BlueB4C; Mar 30, 2007 at 11:52 PM. Reason: Non-sponsor name in post
Oh and I plan on putting my new heads on sometime this summer, If I remember I will try and take some pictures of the headers again since they have to come off anyways to show how they have held up.
