like the title says: im looking at some FPA headers for the 351c in my 66. and they are charging 575 bare, im sure they would be atleast 700 for them ceramic coated, would powder coating be the same thing?

 

No. The ceramic coating used on good headers(like Doug's or FPA's) is also a thermal barrier that's a ceramic/metallic composite. It keeps the gas temps a bit higher in the header which may or may no help with exhaust flow(but it can't hurt), but more importantly it reduces the amount of heat radiated from the headers by a ton and saves the life of engine compartment components.

 

Ceramic coating is good up to about 1200 degrees where powder coating is heated to about 400 then cools. Powder coating would turn to liquid and burn on headers.

 

gotcha. thanks!

 

I dunno about FPA, but Doug's uses a coating that in standard form is rated up to 1,400F.
For what it's worth, spend the extra cash to get the coated headers. They'll last way longer and it keeps the heat down in the engine compartment by quite a bit, helping the engine run cooler and saving the life of parts in the engine bay(water pump seals, wiring, plug wires etc). You just have to spend about $600 these days for a good set of headers.

 

from what i could gather all ceramic powder coating companies are all using the same source for the ceramic coating. thus the difference between companies is probably just the cleaning and application. it's puzzling to see the different temp numbers though.

there seems to be three general ratings for the coatings. i think one goes up to 1900 degrees or so but it basically comes in black as far as i could tell.

that was just my research.


i ordered a set of FPAs uncoated. they didn't fit, so it's a good thing i didn't get them coated before hand. i'm not saying yours won't fit though. (69 351W, 4-spd).

 

There's 2 basic coatings available, the standard metallic/ceramic that comes on most headers(there's only a few companies that do the coating, but the coatings are mostly the same), and a higher temp one that's only a black/greyish color. The high temp is for severe racing applications where temps are 2,000*

 

I've used Thorley's several times, including now on my 66, and love them. The under hood temps are noticable cooler with the coating. You might consider using Jet Hot if you buy bare headers. Have you contact Thorley to see if they already have what you need? I realize a 351 in a 66 is not normal, but it wouldn't surprize me if they have a set. BTW, I paid about $525 for their tri-Ys, coated.

 

Here's my story. I bought a pair of Chrome Tri-Y headers for my 66 about 11 years ago. After a couple of years I upgraded to Aluminum heads & the headers had tarnished and turned that blueish color. The headers fit perfect so I decided to have them Powder Coated Silver.
Till this day those headers still look great and have held up very well and they do keep under hood temperatures down.