Well, I've said for some time that I intended to get my header ceramic coated.  I obtained a spare some time ago and found a place online that's located within about 5 or 6 miles from where I work.  I took the horribly blued (from using header wrap) header by there yesterday and went right by the place at first.  It's garage-based operation, though he has a lot of equipment in there.  I saw a couple of samples of the different finishes.  I wanted satin black before I even showed up but was interested to see what the Cermakrome finish looked like.  As delivered, it looks like an aluminum finish or maybe more like the galvanized pipes you see on chain-link fences.  He says it can be polished to look almost like chrome.  I have to say, the stuff is tough.  You could whack the samples together pretty hard and there's no indication of any damage at all.  Anyway, he quoted me $50 to do my header and that includes the sandblasting/prep.  He said he thought he could have it ready for me today but would call when it's ready.  I'll let y'all know and post a pic or two when I get it back.


Engine Ceramics Header and Industrial Ceramic Coatings

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:05:

Heh, it's been raining off and on all week so far but I'm trying.  The pipe looks about the same as the one on her now as it's painted flat black.  I might wait until my next scheduled oil change to put it on too.  At that point, I'll be looking at my cam chain tensioner and replacing my clutch springs, so I'll be taking the exhaust off anyway.  Then again, I may just do it this weekend.  I'm anxious to get it fully cured, and that's another reason to ride.  I haven't taken a picture of it because it basically  just looks like a black header.  It came with a notice rolled up in one end of it telling you that it's cured to 800 degrees but still requires riding at speed to get it to cook at a full 1200 degrees to completely cure it.  The notices are below.  Click image for full-size.






Engine Ceramics Header and Industrial Ceramic Coatings

Holodeck wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:05:

Well, since my tank is flat black truck bed liner, that's what I got.  However, they only have certain colors available in the ceramic.  I believe the place I used only has two or three options but there are others.

I used Engine Ceramics Header and Industrial Ceramic Coatings.

Others include:

Performance Coatings
AMR Coatings
ThermalTech

I think someone has said that there is a performance gain similar to doing the header wrap thing.  

Okay, I am a bit confused. I see it staes the thing reduces the heat inside the engine. Thats good news. makes the header last longer. Reduces the radiated heat underhood or up & out on the rider. I dont understand how it can be a conduit for heat out of the engine & also decrease the radiated heat the rider will encounter. Anyone? Did I read that wrong? Thats a real possibility, cuz Ive been working hard all day & I am BEAT, so I may have blown it.

It says it radiates less heat onto the rider, too, which means the heat is going?? Where? Maybe I am just not reading it right. Aching too bad too sleep, too tired to think.. pardon me if I say something Totally stupid.

Okay, I did 110 miles with the new header on it today to finish curing the ceramic coating and I'm not going to bother putting any head shields back on the bike.  The ceramic insulates that well.  I mean, I'm not reaching down and grabbing the header after a ride but I can hold my hand close to it and the radiated heat is A LOT LESS than before.  I wish I'd had an IR thermometer gun and had taken readings before and after.

Thanks for that answer. I still dont quite get it all the way, but that helped quite a bit.