Cheaper way to help underhood temps on Cooper S....

dunphyj · #1 09-03-2010, 04:43 PM

Hey everyone...

I recently mentioned a quick and easy way to reduce the under hood temperatures some experience after hard driving and in some cases every day driving. Basically it's as simple as ceramic coating the downpipe (full exhaust if you want... only takes three cans for 4 coats all over...) they'll withstand a crapload of heat, and come in grey, black and white

Anyway, i've been driving with this setup for a little over a week and a half. and it makes a difference... i wouldn't go touching the heatshield after a drive tho :P

"CERAMIC COATING IS RECOMMEND FOR USE ON PARTS THAT ARE EXPOSED TO EXTREMELY HIGH TEMPERATURES SUCH AS HEADERS OR EXHAUST PIPES, OFTEN REFERRED TO AS EXHAUST COATING, HEADER COATING OR HIGH HEAT COATING. CERAMIC COATINGS INCREASE PART LONGEVITY, REDUCES FRICTION, PRODUCES MORE USABLE POWER AND PROTECTS PARTS FROM THERMAL FATIGUE."

That's a quick idea of what ceramic coating is for those who don't know... the concept being that by keeping heat in the exhaust, it will speed up their exit, making the exhaust flow faster and in turn making in theory more power. now actual measurable power is probably minimal... maybe 1 hp... i've never seen any major gains from coated to not coated... however i do know that it will extend the life of said pipe/exhaust.

Anyway, (i got my downpipe professionally done... but did the rest of my exhaust myself) i ceramic coated my alta turboback, you'll see a smug of black on the turbo... that's NOT part of my process, long story short is my puppy knocked into me and in turn made me drop my can and it had a little puff of ceramic coating for the turbine housing... SO in addition to the exhaust coating, i also wrapped the downpipe with two inch wide header wrap to further increase speed of the exhaust gases and keep the heat in the exhaust rather than the engine bay.

so in the Alta AP thread Fishbert requested...

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishbert

If it looks cool, why didn't you post pictures?

so here ya go fishbert

Also i ceramic sprayed the bottom of the stock heatshield

it looks stock when everything's on... i'll take a pic of that and add it if anyone needs to see that...

BTW i don't know if this'll work with stock hoodscoop because i have M7's hood scooop but i'm going to assume that it will. so if you try this and it for some reason doesn't do that, then please no hate mail... i haven't been stock for a LONG time...

Octane · #2 09-03-2010, 07:40 PM

Thanks for the info and pics. I was thinking of adding an aftermarket downpipe and was wondering if the ceramic coating was worth the time and cost.

dunphyj · #3 09-03-2010, 08:06 PM

It only cost me $40 for the coating... But u can do just the outside with the spraying type and have basically the exact same effect...

dunphyj · #4 09-03-2010, 08:10 PM

I'd like to get someone's just-a-Cooper and ceramic coat their exhaust for them then dyno just to see if there's an increase in hp...

Octane · #5 09-03-2010, 08:11 PM

I think you said you had the downpipe professionaly done so do you think the pep boy spray product is good enough to coat the downpipe?

Porthos · #6 09-04-2010, 10:24 AM

No I would do professional on the DP. I would not do it myself. Maybe the heat shield but exhaust parts probably should be done by the real deal people. Also look into powder coating, it cheaper and has similar characteristics to ceramic coating. Plus powder coating is on the inside of the pipe which will help with preventing corrosion.

tvrgeek · #7 09-04-2010, 12:33 PM

Us old guys know about Jet-Hot and their various competitors. We have paid for that for years to keep temps down and to just plain look good. Doing the exhaust manifold and down pipe would be a super idea. Far better than old-school header wrap. Been there, done that.

Porthos: POWDER COATING as a general term is for LOW temp coatings only. It melts at about 250 degrees. You may be referring to another technology that is done using a power.

Jet-hot will coat both inside and outside if you ask them and if they can get to it. Down pipe I believe is stainless so corrosion is not an issue. Do what Jet-Hot says. Note that ceramic coatings can be made to reduce emissions ( what we want here) or to increase radiant emission.

What spray on black stuff did you use? Doing the underside of the OEM shield seems pretty smart. Might be just enough to keep "normally" driven cars from melting their hoods.

There have been many advertising claims about ceramic coating stock exhausts increasing HP over the years. In theory, maybe. When tested, no one ever found any measurably significant difference.