Richard,
Another great post, and it does make perfectly good sense. I hadn't considered the heat soak issue, that alone is a show stopper for me. But as you have said, there is this 2nd "best of all possible worlds" option (leaving Iconel out of it), that being ceramic coated SS. Back on post #12 I mentioned
I've been digging more into side pipes, have emails out to some of them. One looks interesting, cutting edge - but we'll see. I actually was going to say "best of both worlds" on that post, looks like it's time to divulge that google hit -
http://mastertouch327.com/2.html
I've talked to the owner and he has some technical information about these pipes coming my way. Everything used is SS including the internal baffling which is a perforated SS cone design of some sort, tunable for sound. I'll share the details when I get them, but I do like the ceramic coated inner pipe and the "coolshield" concept. Facing reality, my wife will be with me some of the time - and with her short legs, pipe contact is inevitable. She did "ok" the JBL build, I figure that's the least I can do (not that I'm into burnt calves either - sorry Jay Leno, that's one "badge of honor" I can live without
).
MASTERTOUCH custom builds to your specs and they are performance conscious. You will also note that these pipes are not insanely priced like FireFly's (and without coolshield), so we'll see. In my opinion, that would be a pretty nice marriage with SS ceramic coated headers if his design holds up. (I will email you .pdf files of what he sends me).
One last question, if I were to go with SS ceramic coated headers - would just an outside coat be sufficient? Thinking risk mitigation in case there is some truth to Lelchook's comment re: internal hot spots
the coating burns off and rust begins to generate.
Thanks for your assistance Richard, as always - much appreciated!