Stickman03SS Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Does anyone have any experience with Speed Engineering long tube headers and mid-pipes? The mid-pipes come with mufflers and turn downs, but I will likely stick with Dynomaxx race bullets and factory tailpipe for now or give them both a try for comparison. These are a more affordable header and mid-pipe combo over the ARH headers and mid-pipes, but I know that sometimes you get what you pay for. I currently have a custom tune, CAI, IAT breakout harness and sensor, and 36lb GM injectors. Thanks in advance for any input you guys can offer. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickStyle Posted February 2, 2017 Report Share Posted February 2, 2017 i put speed engineering long tubes on my 03 SS with whipple supercharger. build quality is nice, install was straight forward and fit great. i ran it without cats dual 3" mandrel bent over the axle with dual 3" flowmasters, sounded fantastic. they are stainless steel, so you cant really ceramic coat them without it flaking over time. if i was to do it again i would go for some steel headers, only because you can coat them and they wont flake. if stainless steel would hold a coating just as well i would choose the speed engineering headers all day. pic is right after i coated the headers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickman03SS Posted February 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 Thanks for the input, especially on the fitment of the headers on our SS's. Please don't take this a me being argumentative, but are you sure about the ceramic coating flaking on stainless? I am an engineer by education and have a metallurgical engineer who sits next to me and I asked him a few questions. Stainless steels will rust over time, but way slower than mild carbon steels. I did some reading about the coating and most sites seem to recommend coating, even on stainless, and I didn't see any complaints about flaking. I wonder if surface prep is critical to avoid flaking or if these people have not had them long enough to see flaking. My turner just bought a set of Manzo 2 inch stainless steel long tubes for his G8 and he is sending them off for coating. I will keep researching for a good place to do coatings locally and see what they recommend. Like I said, please don't be offended. I just want to be sure and do the right thing, even if it is to leave them alone or buy a different set. I do like the price of the Speed Engineering components but want to have them last. Thanks again for the input. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickStyle Posted February 3, 2017 Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 the problem with the coating on stainless is that it has a smooth surface, and does not take the coat very well, so yes it will flake, you need a rough surface for ceramic coating to adhere to well, which can be achieved on mild steel by sand blasting with some 80 grit aluminum oxide. if you sand blast with glassbead it will create a smooth surface and wont adhere to it well. im not sure if theres some kind of prep that can be done to help it not flake, its flaking because of the smooth surface, and you cant really rough up stainless. i would still recommend coating the stainless if you dont care what it looks like, the majority of the coating stays on there and because it still helps with temps. but if you are going for looks, get some mild steel coated headers. longest set of mild steel coated headers ive had are on a camaro, still holding up like new after about 10 years. on the two separate set of stainless steel coatings ive done, both started to flake off the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickStyle Posted March 17, 2017 Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 thought i would follow up on this post with a set of stainless steel headers i just coated and installed a couple weeks ago. the first pic is from the day i installed them before ever running the engine thru them. the second picture is 4 days of driving with about a total of 4 hours run time. you can see they are already starting to flake. tho i expect these ones to not flake as bad as previous ones i've did because they usually start flaking faster and bigger chunks. i sprayed these ones with a thinner coat than normal, so that might have something to do with it not flaking as bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skymynx Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Do the headers and mid pipes work with the factory catback? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psualumni Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 I have stainless ARH headers and mid-pipes ceramic coated and they look as good as the day I installed them over a year ago. Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrrat1SS Posted June 12, 2017 Report Share Posted June 12, 2017 That sucks........how much do you have in them with the coating? I went with ARH and they are still looking like new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachm89 Posted June 20, 2017 Report Share Posted June 20, 2017 That's not ceramic coating....That's hanging the headers outside and spraying them with a rattle can that says "ceramic". Get someone who does ceramic coating for a living and they will last forever. That high temp paint/ceramic shit you buy at the parts store is worthless to use as a header coating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickStyle Posted July 24, 2017 Report Share Posted July 24, 2017 That's not ceramic coating....That's hanging the headers outside and spraying them with a rattle can that says "ceramic". Get someone who does ceramic coating for a living and they will last forever. That high temp paint/ceramic shit you buy at the parts store is worthless to use as a header coating. im not sure if you are referring to me or not, but i dont spray from rattle cans, i spray from a gun, its real ceramic and it works great on steel, the oldest set of steel that i still have has lasted for about 10 years or so and still looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanrider Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 Do the headers and mid pipes work with the factory catback? Bump, I'm also wondering about this and how it sounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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