anything you can do to your aftermarket header before installing to get the best performance out of it? its polished but should i coat it in any detergents/solvets/greases/oils/chemicals to ensure its longevity and to allow air to flow as efficiently as possible? i live in canada therefor winter driving is a must so with extra salt i want to protect it. also any recomendations on heat wrapping product? Stock heat shields never fit over headers so wrapping is only alternative? (instead i guess, of getting ceremic coated of course) i have the two piece 4-2-1 dc sports si header comming, syk.

 

You won't gain performance if you polish the header ...... You can increase its longevity if you do whats mentioned above, but performance No.

 

[QUOTE=street_ride14]You won't gain performance if you polish the header ...... QUOTE]
no but you will get more performance from the sausage!!!!! hehe sorry my hand wouldnt listen to my brain!! after you install your header wipe it down real good with rubbing alcohol to remove fingerprints and oils, which will stain your headers if left to heat up. as for wrap HELL NO !!! it will actually make your headers weaker from the heat cycles it has to go through, and with dc's ive heard to get the weld's beefed up at a weld shop because their kinda weak. you could polish the head side but its not going to add much maybe like a 100th of a hp, you could send them off to be coated but with the price and all you should of done that when you bought them. just throw them on, torque them down and wipe 'em off then you should be stright! jt

 

okay cool. (as far as polishing, i meant it comes polished) so wipe it down with alcohol and don't heat wrap it? what about excess heat in engine compartmant?
oh yeah btw lol @ polishing the sausage , so if you wouldn't wrap it, why do some come with ceramic coatings etc. isn't that to insulate the header better and keep heat out from engine? (im kinda unsure about the ceramic coating reasoning and wouldn't mind knowing why)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattsnooz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">okay cool. (as far as polishing, i meant it comes polished) so wipe it down with alcohol and don't heat wrap it? what about excess heat in engine compartmant?
oh yeah btw lol @ polishing the sausage , so if you wouldn't wrap it, why do some come with ceramic coatings etc. isn't that to insulate the header better and keep heat out from engine? (im kinda unsure about the ceramic coating reasoning and wouldn't mind knowing why)</TD></TR></TABLE>
yeah wipe it down really good before heating it up. heat wrap will weakin the metal because the header will get hotter inside the wrap and then cools off slower.. http://www.centuryperformance.com/heatwraps.asp theres been talk about header wrap alot of ppl do, some advise aganist it.( as me) the ceramic coating will let your header cool keep heat away(inside coating) and let the gas out quicker. a quick google will help you out on the coating to better arm yourself in the future. as for added heat well you could just stay stock or you could take that wrap and cover anything you want protected. im just saying ive heard more bad things come from wraped headers,, you still can i mean it is your whip right.
all and one more thing, after reading my 1st reply i said something about polishing the head side i ment to say the inside of the pipes where they connect to the head.

 

cool link, ill take your and their word for it. I understand now what you meant by the polishing comment. so from manufacture the header should be relatively smooth finish on inside at the 4 collector all the way through anyway shouldn't it? Also, predominitely my worries as far as heat goes is mostly towards longevity of the motor. As long as i don't race the shiet out of it, the header shouldn't generate that much extra heat to wear motor down etc etc, should it? So i should probably juist heat wrap ac lines and maybe other lines in vicinity of header! Also im going to beef up welds on header (DC-S), (i have limited experience welding) any particular type of weld should i be doing? or would a stick weld be adiquit?
thanks for all your help btw, i appreciate it alot!