This sound very interesting. Are you going to run without the lower fairing peices? What color are you doing, black?

Looking forward to the pictures, how long til they have it done?
Dave

 

Not sure what you mean? Why would I want to run without the lower fairings?

I am waiting for the dealer to get back to me about the lead time. The coater is only about 30 minutes away from my dealer.

Ken

 

Not sure what you mean? Why would I want to run without the lower fairings?

I am waiting for the dealer to get back to me about the lead time. The coater is only about 30 minutes away from my dealer.

Ken

One person in the forum as going to leave the lower gray portions off as he like the 'look', I didn't now if you were going for a visual effect as well doing the powder coating.

 

Oh. I see.

I would leave it in on. I like the look.
Ken

 

If you are already going to all that effort, I would coat the catalytic converters too. That way you should be able to keep the oil sump cooler.

When I looked at it, white thermal ceramic offered the best performance in terms of thermal barrier and higher temperature handling. Though, red would look good on the exposed portion of the headers.

 

Good idea. Thanks for the idea.
Ken


Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app

 

Your dealer give you any idea of the cost for this work Ken?

Rick H.

 

I only spoke to him this morning and so I do not have the quote on the coating yet. The labor for the off and on the bike was about $180.00.

I think I may do the cats as well as someone suggested above.
Ken

 

I wonder if timed with the 18,000 mile service, there would be a savings because of removing all the parts to get to adjust the valves anyway?

Probably the dealer wouldn't want to ceramic coating to take too long because of a dismantled bike laying around a crowded shop, so local and fast application would be important.

 

I got a ways to go before I hit 18K. I should get as good turnaround as possible from my dealer since over the years I have bought the following bikes from them: 1200LT, RT, GSA, Ducati Streetfighter, 1600GT.

I'm in good standing. :k16:
Ken

 

One site said $14/inch for the ceramic coating.

 

From Texas site:

Ceramic Coating - Fast 2 Day Service

Limited Time Ceramic Coating sale!!

Ceramic coating:
EMSPowered use the highest quality ceramic coating available. EMSPowered ceramic coating is chemical resistant and color stable (the color does not change after heat cycling, oil and fuel spills do not hurt the coating). It holds up extremely well to extreme temperatures even on the most intense turbo setups.

Benefits of Ceramic Coating:
* Keeps heat in - By keeping more heat in the pipes you increase exhaust velocity and exhaust energy. On turbo vehicles this allows the turbo to spool quicker and make more power. On naturally aspirated vehicles the higher velocity allows the gas to continue moving out at higher velocity and also results in increased power.
* Keeps heat out of the engine bay: By keeping more heat in the pipes and out of the engine bay you keep the other components in your engine bay cooler such as intake pipes, intercooler pipes, the intercoolers themselves, intake manifold, and others. Keeping engine bay and intake temperatures at a minimum will make more power every time on any vehicle whether it is naturally aspirated or turbo charged.
* Proper ceramic coating provides a long lasting and beautiful finish that is resistant to rust, chemicals and corrosion. It is not only a performance enhancing coating, but is also provides a pleasant aesthetic upgrade.
* Temperature reduction varies between different setups, generally you can expect a temperature reduction of 200-500F on most vehicles.

Why EMSPowered Ceramic Coating:
At EMSPowered we take ceramic coating to the next level. First we start with a chemical bath to remove any chemicals, oil or grime that is on the surface of the part. Next we sandblast all of the surfaces including the inside of the pipes to remove any corrosion, rust, or other coatings. Then the parts are given another chemical bath to remove all debris and leave a clean surface ready to be coated. After the extensive cleaning and preparation process the part is ceramic coated both INSIDE AND OUT. Finally the part is put into our high temperature oven for it's full cure process.

* Many other shops that ceramic coat will coat only the outside of the pipes, this not a complete ceramic coating job in our eyes. All exhaust components need to be coated both inside and out.
* Many other shops will use the "air cure" type coatings which cure partially in open air and then the final cure occurs once the part goes through a couple of heat cycles on a running engine. This is not a complete ceramic coating job in our eyes. All parts need to be cured completely and with proper coating materials, not "air cure" coatings.
* Many other shops do not put the parts through a proper chemical wash before coating. This causes the coating to prematurely lose it's adhesion to the metal and flake or peel off.

Sale prices for common parts:

Straight 6 ... headers (stock or aftermarket):
Normal price: $375/pair
SALE PRICE: $165/pair (56% off)

Ceramic Coating : EMSPowered

 

Sounds like sales bullsh*t. They make it seem like they are the only ones that do the process right. "Some shops don't this or that right". What kind crap is that? I think that businesses that resort to saying that competitors don't do this or that as opposed to just focusing on what they do, don't give me a good feeling about them.

Also, I'm not so sure about coating the insides of the headers. I wouldn't want the inside diameter narrowed by any amount.

I feel comfortable with a coater that my dealer has been using for years on many bikes.
Ken




Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app

 

Any one ceramic coat exhaust headers on a GS - ADVrider

 

I just spoke to the shop doing the ceramic coating. They said that you do get more benefit from doing both the inside and the outside, but they usually so not do the inside of the headers on vehicles whose purpose is performance.

They also said the lighter colors, such as silver do a better job on heat reduction than the darker colors.
Ken

 

If the headers can't radiate heat, will any part of the engine run hotter, such as the exhaust valves? Does the engine depend on heat being radiated from the headers at all?

 

Avocet: People in the know say that the engine does not run hotter due to ceramic coated exhaust. Street rodders and others have used this process for many years and I have never heard anything bad about it. There are a few "installers" that can do a chrome type of finish or several gray colored finishes that make the part look like it is almost new and the color doesn't change much if at all on the part. I will be interested to see of this process takes care of the "hot left foot issue". If the source of the heat is really the exhaust head pipes this could be an interesting cure plus the pipes will definitely look better longer.

Rick H.

 

This company Jet-Hot Ceramic Coatings seems pretty reputable. Three locations in NC, OK and AZ.

My only issue would be the catalytic converter is part of the exhaust header. Would hate to damage it.

 

Thanks Rick H. I guess I'm too timid to try this. It seems that if the heat can't be radiated from the headers it has to go someplace else. I will be interested to hear how it works out for others though.

 

The stated benefits in RLs post makes sense, if the pipes are not radiating heat into the engine bay area, the engine doesn't have to work at cooling it's self down, rider may not be getting quite so hot either (like the left foot complaint that I have read about here in the forum). I would think the only thing that would add to any concern for damage to the valves due to the pipes not being able to disapate heat would be increase back pressure in the exhaust causing more retention of the heated gases.
All the heated gases should just shoot out the back as usual, this would be interesting to see some research on the different effects of ceramic coating on heat issues being altered (or potential altered) by doing this process. History of success does say something, otherwise it would not be a viable process to sell.

 

Suggested tests for ceramic coaters:

Use an IR gun to check for header surface temp changes before and after coating.

Dyno the bike to note any performance changes.

I realize that's asking a lot from most in my experience. However the info would end the inevitable speculation on any benefits.

Gary

 

I would think that this testing has already been done by custom car and bike builders as ceramic coatings have been around for a long time. That said, if some adventurous soul with a GT/GTl wanted to really nail this down it would be interesting to note plus and minus effects. I think there would be a noticable drop in head pipe temperature but the additional heat would just route itself out the exhaust outlet or muffler. The catalytic converters may get hotter but I don't know if there is a negative to that happening. The only way to test this would be to setup two identical tests on a dyno and then in actual road use taking heat and engine readings through out both tests using the same bike. Ambient air temps would have to be taken into account also.

Rick H.

 

Following up on my own advise, I spent the last hour+ doing some internet research on ceramic coated exhaust systems. I have to admit I am amazed at some of the information regarding this process. Obviously one can't take everything for granted, but some of the heat reduction reports are impressive. I also discovered there are many different types of ceramic coatings which muddies the waters so to speak on which one is best or at least better. What I found quite interesting in going to various websites is that the hotter the exhaust system becomes the faster the exhaust gasses flow to exit. I did not know this nor had I ever heard this little detail. None of the sites I researched reported any degradation of the catalytic converter when the exhaust system is ceramic coated including coating the entire exhaust system...cats included. So this subject gets even more interesting for me anyway.

Rick H.

 

I know that getting rid of the CATs in the header pipe on a HD decreases the temp. Alot of the guys cut out the CATs, and ceramic coat the stock headers to improve temps.

 

I am that adventurous soul. I am dropping my bike off at the dealer early next week and they are bringing the headers to the place later next week. They will be available the following week.
I went to the shop and they did say that the lighter colors have better heat reducing properties than darker color. He had one color that was called "something" chrome that had the best properties. It was about 25% higher in cost and is also thicker. It comes in shiny like chrome or a brushed aluminum look, which is what I chose.

I am curious though does that extra heat that stays inside do any damage to the engine etc? I have not seen anything on the net stating this. The BMW dealer said that the heat will have a benefit of improved scavenging.
Ken

 

The extra heat won't stay in the engine - it shoots out the pipes pretty quickly. The gases that go out the tailpipes will be hotter though, because less of it will collect in the metal exhaust pipes.

 

OK, thanks.
My plan would be to hot the headers with an infrared gun before and after so we can see what the temp difference is.
Ken

 

Does this also mean that the exhausts cans can be expected to heat up more than previously. For some reason I have this vision of melted plastic from those funny boxes some of us have installed. You know, the ones that sit right above the exhaust cans.

 

Now you're going overboard. We are not early adopters. People have been doing this with cars and motorcycles for a long time.

As an example, my dealer had these done on Ducatis that have the cans under the seat. This would mean that they would burn their ass off. To the contrary, the reason why they did the coating was to make it cooler sitting on the seat.
Ken