View Poll Results: Which is the best option to reduse underhood temperatures on a supercharged 3V?
Ceramic-coated shorties
0
0%
Voters: 9. You may not vote on this poll
Underhood temperatures
03-29-2012, 05:32 AM
#14
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,744
03-29-2012, 07:15 AM
#15
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Delaware
Posts: 2,215
03-29-2012, 07:21 AM
#16
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Palm Beach to South Carolina
Posts: 1,567
From the thermal standpoint, I would think that ceramic coated exhaust manifold wold be best of the 3 options, whether you have headers or manifold they are all made out of iron, so that's about the same across the line, but the exhaust manifold has the least amount surface area in the engine bay, by having more surface area with the headers, you are letting more of the heat escape into the engin bay than out the back. That said, you may gain more performance with the headers than you lose with intake temps...
so you still may be an idiot... but ceramic coated is better than nothing.
so you still may be an idiot... but ceramic coated is better than nothing.
http://www.americanmuscle.com/jba-sh...rs-0509gt.html
Since steel is stronger than iron, the headers are thinner and lighter than the OEM iron manifolds. The ceramic coating on the thinner steel insulates the engine bay and allows the heat to be transferred toward the rear of the car thus reducing the underhood temperatures. The much thinker and heavier iron manifolds soak up the heat and radiate it much like the old fashion radiators that used to heat houses/offices. A ceramic coating on the exterior of the iron manifolds might help a little, but you still have a heat sink that is heated up underneath the coating.
03-29-2012, 10:31 AM
#17
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 645
Actually a good coater will coat the inside of the cast iron manifold as well as the outside. This keeps the heat away from the cast iron. In any case the surface area of a cast iron manifold is so much smaller unlike a old style house radiator which was made to have a large surface area. The tube headers surface is many time the surface area of cast iron. I will admit that when the engine is off the tube headers cool faster but again this indicates they give up their heat faster because of the greater surface area. In any case long tubes are a pain in the **** to put on and don't give you much in the way of real hp for the effort and expense. Their biggest advantage is the sound can't get that anywhere else but long tubes. $1000 for set of headers is nearly a third of they way to a SC which gives you some real hp.
03-29-2012, 11:42 AM
#19
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 36
Hey guys, thanks for the replies. This is just one of the things I'm planning on doing for the sake of underhood temps. I'm installing a whipple on my GT (the 550 HP kit from Ford Racing) and I'm just trying to be as "safe" as humanly possible, as I know I'm pushing the limit of the stock short block. The other is to install small electric fans on the supercharger heat exchanger for additional cooling, so it's not my only mod, just one of many.
And not knowing any of you I'd still vote for you guys over the current lineup in Washington.
And not knowing any of you I'd still vote for you guys over the current lineup in Washington.
03-29-2012, 05:12 PM
#20
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Delaware
Posts: 2,215
Here's what I did, bought a like new condition set of Mac long tubes (actually mid length) and off road Mac ProChamber (with new gaskets and O2 extenders) on Criagslist for $300. Then I sent the barely used (no carbon build up or dings or scratches) headers to get ceramic coated for $140.
Total cost: $440 + $60 total shipping = $500
Shop around, it saves big bucks!