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Kook's longtube's

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I will be ordering some 1 7/8 longtube headers here shortly but I want to know if anyone has had any problems with heat. I'm considering the ceramic coating, but is it worth it? Will it actually dissipate some of the heat? I would like to keep the temps as low a possible for the track and spirited driving and they look like heater cores. Any input on this would be helpful because I have zero experience with headers.
 
I have the 1-7/8 Kooks LTHs. I was told by a race engineer that coating was not necessary for the heat. At the recommendation of the vendor I had mine Swaintech coated, as did he since he was ordering at the same time and wanted to try it. They were telling him that it would help quiet them down. Mine's as loud as my buddy's and his aren't coated so I would say it's not worth it for sound, but probably can't hurt for heat. Now the reason Ford Racing developed the stainless steel clutch line was to protect against the heat from LTHs. The factory line is plastic and could melt so I did swap out the clutch line for stainless steel.

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Other than keeping the heat out of your engine bay the ceramic coating also keeps the heat into the headers which should help move exhaust through them more quickly, not sure if that increases power though.
 
i have the american racing longtubes. stainless coating. love them and no prob with heat. best upgrade imo
 
cloud9 said:
I have the 1-7/8 Kooks LTHs. I was told by a race engineer that coating was not necessary for the heat. At the recommendation of the vendor I had mine Swaintech coated, as did he since he was ordering at the same time and wanted to try it. They were telling him that it would help quiet them down. Mine's as loud as my buddy's and his aren't coated so I would say it's not worth it for sound, but probably can't hurt for heat. Now the reason Ford Racing developed the stainless steel clutch line was to protect against the heat from LTHs. The factory line is plastic and could melt so I did swap out the clutch line for stainless steel.

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Thanks for the heads up on this, hadn't thought about the clutch line. I guess that will go in the cart too. Heat wrap would probably be cheaper then ceramic coating, it may work better. Might be the better way to go. I appreciate the input.
 
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I've always been curious if ceramic coating is actually worth it on a stainless exhaust system. Other than looks.

A friend of mine says he had a set of headers ceramic coated but made sure they were completely coated both inside and out. He says getting them coated on the inside all way through out makes a big difference in heat but his are on a boat and I don't have any real before and after figures to back this statement up.


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Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
rpm3dinc said:
Did you have to take the Motor and Trans out to get the headers on? Or did you take it for some other reason?
no you dont have to take the motor out to install headers. whats required is removing the starter, the motor mount plates this requires jacking the motor up.

There is three ways really to skin the headers cat. the way I just described or drop the entire k member or take the motor out.
 
rpm3dinc said:
Did you have to take the Motor and Trans out to get the headers on? Or did you take it for some other reason?
The tech that installed mine finds it quicker and easier to pull the motor. Like Justin said there are different ways to attack it.
 
I got my headers yesterday and now I'm wondering if I should get them coated in stead of wrapping them. Quite a few Pro's and Con's stories on the net. Cloud9, does your under hood temps seem to be the same as stock, do you think it works keeping the underhood temps down? I have the wrap and was thinking about wrapping them this weekend before I get them installed but now I'm thinking about Jet-hot or Swaintech or another vender that the name I can't remember.
 
racered302 said:
I got my headers yesterday and now I'm wondering if I should get them coated in stead of wrapping them. Quite a few Pro's and Con's stories on the net. Cloud9, does your under hood temps seem to be the same as stock, do you think it works keeping the underhood temps down? I have the wrap and was thinking about wrapping them this weekend before I get them installed but now I'm thinking about Jet-hot or Swaintech or another vender that the name I can't remember.
I really can't say for sure and since I have a Tiger hood the temps are lower than they were with the factory hood when it was stock. I did run cooler last year on the track but attributed that mostly to the billet grille I installed. I have nothing educated to say about whether the headers (coated or not) have a bearing on that by allowing the exhaust gases to flow out more efficiently.
 
This is a week late but I talk to a guy at Kook's and ask him if should get my headers coated because of heat and he said no, the SS headers need to be coated and dissipates heat a lot faster then regular metal and the header could be touched after a 15-20min cool down. I'm not sure I want to try that based on his word, but I will use an IR thermometer.
 
Got my car back but too much salt on the streets to go out and play. The base dyno was 383hp after it was 407hp. Need to wait for dyno sheets to be emailed, he was having problems his network. I might be able to barter with him and square away his network problems.
 

BOSS343

Theory of 1
racered302 said:
Got my car back but too much salt on the streets to go out and play. The base dyno was 383hp after it was 407hp. Need to wait for dyno sheets to be emailed, he was having problems his network. I might be able to barter with him and square away his network problems.

Are you running catless too? Tune?
 
Justin said:
no you dont have to take the motor out to install headers. whats required is removing the starter, the motor mount plates this requires jacking the motor up.

There is three ways really to skin the headers cat. the way I just described or drop the entire k member or take the motor out.

Can I assume, you didn't need a lift since you jacked up the motor?
 
BOSS343 said:
Are you running catless too? Tune?

I bought the cat delete legs but I haven't installed them yet, maybe Saturday if it doesn't rain. I'm not running a tune for now, I like the way it runs with the trackey. I'll get an AED tune for it when I get tired of the CEL and finally get some logs for Shaun.
 
I have Kooks Long Tubes on my LS with a tiger hood. I have the race grille as well, never issues with heat even at 97 degrees in vegas. I actually removed the grill for the day, really helped. Only issue I had was the header hitting the frame under my feet on right handers. Heated them up and bent it away, worked great.
 
Does anybody have any insight on the 2" Kooks LT Headers? Any dyno numbers? Unsure which way I'll go (1 7/8 vs 2"), ARH, Hooker, Ford Racing, Kooks? are they mostly the same in terms of dyno numbers?

I don't need CATS, to be street legal here, so I'll delete them.
 

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