Doug Thorley header question

[Hart_Rod]

Has anyone had a problem with their coating coming off?

[Daaaanz67]

Wow that blows these are not cheap. Was that after first start up?

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Daaaanz67

Wow that blows these are not cheap. Was that after first start up?

First real drive, approximately 45 minutes. Temp never got above 200.

[ls1nova71]

Subscribing for details. I was going to buy a set of these, but now not sure......

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

Subscribing for details. I was going to buy a set of these, but now not sure......

Nova do you think it could have been something in the tune? I'm running hotter plugs (NGK7s) because of the supercharger, but temps are staying low.

[dwcsr]

I got this from a site that does these coatings

When you receive your ceramic coated item, it will have a partial cure. It will achieve a full cure once it is installed on the car/motorcycle. For a full cure you must run your ceramic coated item at operating temperature for a minimum of 1 hour at idle or by driving normally. If you have any questions concerning your break in period for ceramic, please contact us.
CAUTION: Excessive exhaust heat due to a poorly tuned engine can damage the coating during the cure period. Do not install on a new engine until all adjustments have been made to the camshaft, springs, valves, timing and jetting. Allow the engine to idle, or drive gently for approximately 1 hour or until no vapor/smoke is given off by the coating. MAINTAIN adequate ventilation during this process.

Breaking in an engine with freshly painted ceramic coated headers WILL result in damage to the coating. Ceramic coated headers require several heat cycles and/or an hour run of your engine at idle or driving normally to fully cure before they will withstand extreme heat. We recommend using uncoated cast iron exhaust manifolds or old uncoated headers to break in new engines to avoid coating damage. The use of header wraps can cause the header tubes to crack or rust due to excessive heat and moisture build–up. Bonehead Performance does not recommend the use of header wraps.
Customer is responsible for final break in. Ceramic coated items cannot be installed on a motor in which the internals need to be run to be broken in due to the extreme temperatures achieved during a new break in.

[stevenbear72]

Hmm, I WAS gonna buy a set of these, now not sure either!!!

[Hart_Rod]

Just to be clear guys, this thread was not meant to BASH Doug Thorley Headers. I was just trying to find out if anyone has had any problems with the coating or if maybe I did something wrong. And to be fair, it looks like I broke a few of the rules that were posted above.

[ls1nova71]

I had never heard of that problem with the break in of a new engine either. How do they expect you to break it in with cast iron manifolds? I can't see anyone cutting their frame for the manifolds to fit and hooking up exhaust for them just to break in an engine, at least I'm not going to. The reason I was going to buy some was because I can't find manifolds that will fit without cutting things I don't want to cut.

I wonder if they were referring to flat tappet cam break in where you have to run the engine at a high RPM for a while? If that's the case, you should be fine since you didn't have to do that? Were you monitioring the A/F while driving? Was it running a little lean?

[BustedTruck]

I have the same headers & mine are rusting pretty bad. These have a lifetime warranty on the coating right?

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by BustedTruck

I have the same headers & mine are rusting pretty bad. These have a lifetime warranty on the coating right?

Can you post some pictures? I'm not sure on the warranty.

[Matt Cramer]

Is the coating coming off, or just changing its appearance?

[Stickman]

I've had mine on for eight or nine years and haven't had any problems. I'm running them on a stock 350.

[Billett]

I'll have to check mine but last time I looked they were fine. I didn't follow the 1 hour break in procedure, but I know it definitely didn't look like that after the first few trips I took. There were a few small rust spots here and there, but they've been on the engine now for about 6 months.

[ls1nova71]

I wonder if there is a way you could "polish" it back up? Maybe some 000 steel wool or something?

[truckdude239]

Id say call doug and see what he says

[BustedTruck]

These headers fit great, but I'm not satisfied with the rust. Stored Indoors & never been driven in the rain.

[BustedTruck]

LH side.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Matt Cramer

Is the coating coming off, or just changing its appearance?

Looks like its coming off...

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

I wonder if there is a way you could "polish" it back up? Maybe some 000 steel wool or something?

I haven't tried that, since they are steel I'm not sure if it will work.

Originally Posted by truckdude239

Id say call doug and see what he says

I agree...

Originally Posted by BustedTruck

These headers fit great, but I'm not satisfied with the rust. Stored Indoors & never been driven in the rain.


Attachment 1190838

Ouch! That's disappointing.... How long have you had them? Have you talked to Doug?

[BustedTruck]

I purchased them Nov 2009. I e-mailed them through the contact us page on their web site. Never heared anything from them. I didnt follow up. I am going to call them after christmas.

This is from their website. Looks like they are lifetime warranty.

LIMITED WARRANTY - DOUG THORLEY HEADERS PRODUCTS ARE WARRANTED AGAINST DEFECTIVE MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP FOR AS LONG AS YOU, THE ORIGINAL CONSUMER PURCHASER, OWNS SAID PRODUCT.

LIMITED WARRANTY IS NON-TRANSFERRABLE. PROOF OF PURCHASE REQUIRED. ANY NON-DEFECTIVE, UNOPENED, UNUSED, NOT-INSTALLED ITEM MAY BE RETURNED WITHIN SEVEN WORKING DAYS OF RECEIPT AND WILL BE SUBJECT TO A 20% RESTOCKING/ REPACKAGING FEE.

BLUING AND/OR DISCOLORATION OF CHROME EXHAUST SYSTEMS/PRODUCTS ARE NOT COVERED.

CONTACT DOUG THORLEY HEADERS CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT DIRECTLY AT (951) 739-5900 TO OBTAIN R.O.G. NUMBER PRIOR TO RETURN OF PRODUCT.

AUTHORIZED PRODUCT(S) RETURNED WILL BE REPAIRED OR REPLACED AT DOUG THORLEY HEADERS’ DISCRETION.

DOUG THORLEY HEADERS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OTHER EXPENSES, INCLUDING LABOR FOR REMOVAL OF DEFECTIVE PARTS INCURRED BY THE CUSTOMER UNDER THE TERMS OF THE WARRANTY, NOR SHALL DOUG THORLEY HEADERS BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WEATHER CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, CONTINGENT OR OTHERWISE, OR EXPENSES OR INJURY ARISING FROM THE USE OF DOUG THORLEY HEADERS PRODUCTS.

A DETAILED COPY OF SALE TERMS, CONDITIONS AND WARRANTY INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

[Jon01]

That is disappointing.
I've bought probably 1/2 dozen sets of headers over the years, only 2 were coated out of the gate - Dynomax's I put on my Charger back in high school and a set of BBK's on an old Fox body I had in college. Both of those coatings had terrible durability.
After I got a real job and started buying quality headers(Kooks). 2 of those I left uncoated and they remained very nice over the years. Another 2 I had coated aftermarket, the coating on them held up very well.

I guess my point is that in my experience headers coated by the manufacturer seem to have much poorer quality coatings.
Those coated by a 3rd party are much more durable.

I have a set of Doug's(not Doug Thorley, the original Doug's) that are coated in the garage waiting to go in my GTX. We'll see how they hold up.

There is truth in the statement regarding using freshly coated headers. Most of the time fresh engines will be poorly tuned which puts a ton of heat into the exhaust. I've literally seen headers glow orange during camshaft break-in which I can imagine would be murder on coating.

I have successfully polished coating using Mothers aluminum polish. Any kind of compound should work fine. The rust above will likely polish out.

[lchall]

If you go into the downloads there is a manual for the headers on the Doug Thorley website. I caught this statement in there about the finish.

"The chrome plating applied to all Thorley headers is a high-nickel chrome finish applied to retard corrosion. This is a “heat” chrome to preserve the metal. This finish is not “show chrome” intended for the sake of appearance. This high-nickel chrome turns colors and approaches black as it cooks into the metal. The brilliance of the chrome finish is not covered under the warranty. Contamination of the surface by foreign substances may produce other color patterns. This can be prevented by routine cleaning."

I personally really don't like the statement about turning colors and approaching black. I think I'm going to try a set of the Kooks Trailblazer headers with Airborn coating. Just need to get it on order.

[ls1nova71]

^^^^^ That applies to chrome plating, it will blue over time. The headers in question were ceramic coated not chromed so I don't think that applies.