Exhaust Coating


Why coating?
I've run with coated headers for years - Quad-1 from www.clearimageautomotive.com - and have
been very satisfied over the relatively low under-hood-heat, also knowing that the heat is "staying
inside the pipes" which gives horsepower, like when you wrap your headers. But I prefer this shiny
solution. Also, after years of hard use, my Quad 1 headers were still in good shape so the next
owner (Kirill in Kiev, Ukraine) was excited of what he had bought. Simply, headers should be coated.
A better explanation can be read at Exhaust Coating website, German Pro Mod racer
Marco Maurischat's coating company:

"Available in several metallized finishes, these coatings will not only give an
attractive look but also works as a perfect thermal barrier that increases performance
and horsepower by increasing heat scavenging during the exhaust cycle.
Our coatings has shown lower radiant temperature between 400-600°F."

More: www.exhaust-coating.de/ceramic

So we got together, five racers - Patrick Wikström, Tommy Olsson, Melle, Kent Edin and I - to send our both new and used headers to Exhaust Coating in Germany to have them coated by Marco and his team. This is Marco's cool 1953 Corvette Pro Mod, built in 2008. Marco's company Exhaust Coating is also the sponsor of the "Pro Mod Challenge" Visit his racing site: www.maurischat-racing.de I asked Marco if he could take some pictures and explain a little more about the process for us, and as the nice guy he is - he did. Here follows his pictures. Thanks Marco!

The Swedish parts has arrived.


Sorting to get all pipes to sand blasting, inside out.


Back from the blasting, Marco's beginning to coat. He's using Piston Coat for coating inside the headers
for best thermal barrier. To dry the inside coating the parts goes into the oven for 1 hour at 170° Celsius.


Then it's time for the outside. Chromex is coated with a small point gun.


After Chromex is applied, parts goes back into the oven to cure for 1.5 hours at 300° Celsius. It looks
like a very artistic installation at a modern museum or something, doesn't it? The upside down picture
should help you to get that impression...


Next step is to grind all parts with 3M Scotch Brite.


Before and after Scotch Brite. This is also very Arty!


Marco's running the Vibrahone which is used for polishing the chromex. It's done in 15 minutes.
The Vibrahone is filled up with about 800 KG of little ceramic "balls" (2 and 3 mm ). There is also about
50 L water and a little bit of a polishing soap in there.


The machine is "shaking" and the balls are turning around as well as the pipes. With this the exhaust
systems will automaticly become polished, as Patrick's zoomies here.


After that they make a last hand polishing before parts will be shipped out to the customer.


Tommy's BB Ford headers for the Great White Lincoln! The black is what they use daily for all
motorcycle guys and is an air cured product with a perfect permormance and finish.


Last station of the process is a very thorough wrapping. You have to be very, very careful with all the
parts until you have mounted them on your engine and started it for the final cure.


Back to papa! ! Chromex is the closest thing to chrome, and much better!


Patrick Wikström's old, used, rusty, oily and sooty zoomies just went to heaven for a shower and back!
Crown Jewels. This pair were just amazing to look at!


And the Thriller team was amazed...


Tommy chose black satin but he shined as much as all the others, of course. This boy always shines!
He has fabricated his own BB Ford headers for the Great White Lincoln!

June 27

One side finished


Yea. New headers are on their way at last, coated and all. Driver's
side headers shown here. 1 week left to the race in Säve.



Marco's user tips:
Normally we handle out an information paper with the parts. We have this only in German so I think
you don´t get one with your parts. Here are some instructions about how to handle the parts
and painting first time:

1.
After mounting the pipes on the engine make sure that there is no grease, oil or polish material on the
surface before the engine will run first time. (Clean parts with Acetone if needed). Any dirt can "burn"
into the coating first time.
2.
Most of our Cerakote Ceramics are oven cured. The final cure have to take place when engine is
running the first time. The coating will smell first time when engine runs.
3.
Keep care and don´t scrach parts when mounting on the engine.The Ceramic will become very hard
and abrasive when the final cure is done. It has a perfect flex and is very chemical stable against
most everything (you can clean it with break cleaner too).
4.
If the Chromex become more matt after some time you can polish it very easy with an aluminium
polish (hand polish) like Autosol or Rot-Weiß . You can do this as often as you like .You will
not polish "through" the material . It's important to use an Aluminium polish, no stainless steel polish!
5.
Also the final cure for Black coated pipes has to take place when engine runs first time. You can clean
also them with Acetone.
6.
Full throttle!