Question about ceramic coating turning dull on headers.

[spectras only]

My son had his Formula 2000 exhaust header ceramic coated and it seems only #1 pipe discolored .Are they all going to turn dull after a short while? I've seen ceramic coated headers before, they looked like satin finish,
Trying to attach picture. Resized to 718kb already but doesn't upload here. What gives? I'm having this issue for month, grrrr

 

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[monkeyswrench]

If I had to guess, I would think lean or tight exhaust...but the dullness looks to be in perfect alignment with that section of tube. Maybe different thickness or grade tubing used?

 

[CoolCruzin]

I had that happen.what cause mine was that it was running leaning to lean.( too hot)
I was carbureted and all 8 cylinder was the same .
You have only one cylinder showing this .
So ???

 

[spectras only]

I first thought lean condition but all plugs show tan color. The engine runs on a two barrel Weber, simplest carburator ever to set up. Car was jetted for sea level originally to run Mission Raceway. We are about 1200 feet above sea level so it would run richer rather than lean. Like Monkeywrench mentioned, it could be thinner walled at that section of pipe?

 

[Rivermonster619]

I even think it could be the material of the headers. I know for Offroad cars it seems like the ceramic coated mild steel headers dull faster than the stainless ones I’ve seen.

 

[motormonkey]

Just my two cents and for piece of mind I'd check it out.... That's a big change in color from the others. It looks lean, sticking or leaking valve spring gettin weak.or ignition I'd pull the headers and look at the valves to see if same color to rule out any issues. A quick leak down. You can look in the pipes also.

 

[RadMan]

Couldn’t you run it and check the header tube temps with an infrared thermometer for comparison. If that one is lean it would show up much hotter.

 

[MK1MOD0]

Having coated many headers over the years on cars, they have all dulled over time. And like was stated, mild steel faster than stainless. My guess, they used a scrap piece of tubing that was slightly different than the others .

 

[SixD9R]

Yeah as MW said, the difference is only in one section of tubing which indicates something about that piece caused the issue. Even the short straight piece coming off the head looks fine which should be even hotter.

 

[240Hallett]

Agree with the different type or wall thickness of tube section to heat differently.

 

[spectras only]

High there. Thanks for all the replies. Compression good across all four cylinders. We're going out to the track again today and I'll have the infrared checker with us. We'll have sensors installed in the bungs for EGT once the car dialed in. Car pulls great all the way the powerband. Like said before, who ever made the header probably ran out the good pipe material. When I restored my 38 Norton, had the exh pipe re-chromed, it bubbled the chrome in the first 100 miles running. The wall thickness was very thin .I've replaced it with an aftermarket one from England that had heavy wall and the chrome finish stayed great. The chrome on the pipe on my 58.Matchless, restored the bike in 1989, the pipe from Armours in England, it still looks great today.