breakin period for ceramic headers?
 

Hey guys, I just read this from the holley site on ceramic headers (all types)...

quote:
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TIP: Breaking in an engine with ceramic coated headers WILL result in damage to the coating and will void all warranties
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(source: http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLi...H/Emission.html )

Is this true? If so, I guess I'll have to transfer on my rusted 1.5" JBA's for the first 1K+ miles on the new stroker engine :(

--C

Wow thats something i never heard of?

I just dont see how any damage would occur, i would think they would benefit the motor begining to end.

I've never heard that either, but I'm guessing all the aseembly lube and wierd stuff that burns off in the first few miles of an engine break in, might hurt the coating from the inside... but I've never heard that before.. I'm sure holley is just covering thier ***
-as

They are probably referring to breaking in a FLAT TAPPET cam. This is when you rev the motor at 2000 rpms for the first 20 minutes. That process ends up making the headers glow. And this probably will kill just about any coating that has not had the chance to anneal fully.

That break in process is not required, and should not be performed if you are using a roller cam, like most 5.0's will use.

Lots of cars cruise at 2000 RPM on the highway for alot longer then 20 minutes... why wouldnt it be a problem then?
-as

I had a set BBK coated headers on a new motor(88) during break in and they never had a problem.

I thought header "glow" was caused by running too lean? :confused:

Breaking in a cam is done with the car in park or neutral and not moving. Believe me this gets things quite toasty. Most manuals recomend having a water hose handy and a big fan in front of the radiator. The first time I did this my car had OPEN headers, at 10:00 at night :D :D And I clearly saw some glowing. The second time 10 years later, I had iron manifolds.

Cruising at speed is totally different, all the moving air cools the engine much better, plus running under load makes a difference too,

When I put my motor in, it made the headers glow during the first few minutes, they weren't coated though. They had the high temp black paint when they came off the old motor, they've been brown ever since.

Turned blue
 

My nickle plated Tri-Y headers turned blue and have been discolored ever since.

Rev