Stainless Exhaust

[mrud]

Bob and club members,

My ERA will be built in a few months and I was wondering what you think of Stainless exhaust vs. side pipes ceramic coated and painted silver. Longevity and looks are important. (Of course as well as sound) Installing a 427 SO BB.
Regards,
mrud

[Blake Olson]

I've heard both. IMHO, I would go with the ceramic coating. The stainless pipes seem to discolor(yellow, blue) with heat, and take lots of 'polishing maintence' to keep looking good.

I recommend the ceramic coating. Looks great, little maintenece.

From what i've 'heard' (literally), the stainless pipes seem a little 'pingy'er', but they all sound great. I guess it's probably a combination of metal, and what kind of muffler(if any) is inside the sidepipe.

all best,

blake

[Jim Holden]

mrud:

If you want "white" sidepipes:

I have had my side pipes ceramic coated white and then before I installed them painted them with white high temp paint. The paint tends to "mellow" a little in use, but when your front wheels throw up crap off the road onto the side pipes that then bake it on, you can "touch up" the side pipes with the HT paint again.

The stainless pipes do have a "hollow-er" sound. And they also do "turn" a little, but then I for one like the look of slightly blued pipes.

Jim

[Excaliber]

I'm replacing my chrome pipes with plain steel. I will paint them white. Later if I want to change the baffles, I wil cut them open and have at it. Meanwhile, touch up is a can of paint.

Tired of the "polishing" of the chrome. Not crazy about the "almost chrome" look of silver powder coat. My chrome pipes look GREAT when there all cleaned up, maybe thats spoiled me on silver coating?

Ernie

[mrud]

Ernie and guys,
Thanks for the replies. Even though stainless tends to blue, is it hard to keep clean?

[CJ428CJ]

Mrud,

I have the stainless pipes and about 1000 miles on my car. They don't turn blue; they turn kind of a brownish yellow. When you see blue pipes, I think you're looking at chrome. I must say they did turn yellowish brown much faster and a bit darker than I expected them to but I don't find it to be annoying. They are also quite a bit louder than I expected - not that that's a bad thing of course.

Chris

[pk]

I believe David Kirkham mentioned he had a source for ss pipes that (due to the type of steel) did not discolor. This thread was prob. a least a year ago you might try a search or ask him about it.
pk

[John 550]

I have ss pipes . They changed the inside of the pipe after about car 500+
to a open pipe w/ceramic mat , they have less pig and 40 hp more .

Although you should clean them when dirty , I have let them go .
I found that liquid rubbing compond (sold at boating / auto paint stores)
and a wheel will bring them right back with little work .

I like that the ss they will last , but the white sure does look good !


Does ERA offer ss primary pipes ?




Enjoy you build !

[Mr.Fixit]

stainless sidepipes turn a nice mellow yellow color where they get hot. Buffs out to like new. They are pricey, and anything that gets on them while hot is a b1tch to buff out, such as water thrown up on them when pulling into a driveway across a water filled gutter. I like ceramic because it is durable, but i don't care for the dull silver appearance, black is nice though. I just say paint them, you will need to repaint them semi-frequently, but not a big deal, You don't even need to take them off the car to do so. I thik you all spend too much time worrying about what your exhaust pipes look like.

[Back in Black]

The headers I have let discolor to a nice varied blue rainbow color.. too hard to clean. But the pipes themselves I have found are easy to clean with some 1500 to 2000 grit sandpaper... makes 'em shiny and new looking.. maybe every 1000 miles. To clean real melted junk off, I use 400 grit first, just enough to remove the crud.