bare stainless headers?

elgineddie · July 24, 2004

Howdy friends,

I just got a set of JBA headers that are 409 stainless steel. Bare, not ceramic or powder coated or anything. The rest of the exhaust is factory stainless steel and looks good after almost 5 years and 85,000 miles but I'm wondering what will these new headers look like after some time. Does the high temp keep them nice or do they get blued and funky?

Does anyone have a pic of their bare stainless steel headers that are a year or so old? How do they look? I know this sounds dumb but I'm really not in the mood to ship them out to Jet-Hot for their ceramic coating for an additional $170 after spending $450.

Thanks in advance!

Ed in Chicagoland

duffus · July 31, 2004

it depends on whether or not it was heat treated.. and what type of stainless was used. Lemme know if you can keep them tight-- my experience with headers is you have to tighten them every few thousand miles. .. not my fav thing to do.

budhayes3 · July 31, 2004

I've had bare stainless Gibson shorties on my truck for 3 years now, no pics though. They look kinda brownish, but they're solid. Collector bolts are lookin kinda iffy, but all of the bolts from the flange to the head are fine. I made sure to constantly re-torque them for the first few months, and put a thin coat of high temp RTV on both sides of the gasket. I check the bolts every so often, and they're always tight. Kinda wishin that I had them coated now though, would look so much nicer. Didn't have the dinero at the time. Oh well.

elgineddie · July 31, 2004

Great points, guys, thanks.

I also bought those Stage 8 locking bolts so I will post an update in a few thousand miles to let everyone know how they are working. I know that when people use them, they love them.

I also think I will get them coated. I'll wait til the cash is there and then send them out to Jet-Hot. Someone said it gives a better report to the O2 sensor.

Thanks again,

Ed