LCE Header Rust Out and Repair Attempt

This inspired me to give them a call. I was honest when they asked if I had an order #. I was impressed by their response. They said that they don't warranty the coatings because there are so many variables but they will of course warranty their workmanship and welds. They said that the rust spots on the flanges sound normal, but they had not seen the coating peel off the tubes like I described. They said they will beadblast and recoat them for $50 if I cover freight. I'm going to hold off until spring and then see what they look like.

I have also installed their header on my girlfriends 3rz. I'm very happy with the performance of both of them, I just hope they last.

 

Anyone look into these guys yet?

https://www.jet-hot.com/our-coatings-1/

If I could do it over I'd buy a header and send it directly to these guys for coating. The coatings are supposed to offer great corrosion resistance as well as lowing temperatures. Not sure what it costs but it would be worth it to prevent future problems.

 

I just submitted a request to Jet Hot for an estimate for their Extreme Heat coating. I'll let you guys know when they get back to me.

 

Could this be galvanic corrosion? I’m coming at the question from the rock climbing world, where a stainless bolt next to a zinc plated washer will corrode. Would be another argument for welding with stainless.

 

Galvanic corrosion will occur at the boundaries, this is uniform

 

I got an answer from Jet Hot, on Sunday actually! I asked for a price to coat my header with their extreme heat coating in this color called Goldstone:



The quote was for $300 plus return shipping. There also is a $50 fee for stripping if the part requires it.

I'm sure the coating is good but after shipping and stripping fees it will be pretty much the price of the header itself. I sent another email asking if there is a less expensive option.

 

Time for an update!

After letting this project sit around all winter I finally completed the repair. I'm not super thrilled about how the welds came out honestly. I used to weld for a living but not for the past seven years so I'm a bit out of practice...

The stainless wire I used seemed to work OK but it behaved in a way I wasn't used to. It didn't seem to wet to the edges very well. Could've been my settings, could've been me, it was tough trying to get in between those tubes.



I then filled in the gap between the tubes with a small piece of 14ga stainless.



I Checked the tubes by turning off the workshop lights and shining a flashlight into the ends, looking for "leaks" of light. I did find one that I had to spot weld from inside the tube. A bit of dremeling the insides and I was ready to add the side patches to seal the last few inches of primary tube.



Again, not super happy with the welds but they are solid at least. Patches were made with 14ga stainless, 304 I think.

At last the collector was re attached.



I know it's a bit Frankenstein lookin' but I hope it will save me $450! I actually miss the little extra power/torque on the highway.

Now I'm gonna work on packing it up and shipping it out to Jet Hot Coatings. They have 3 options for color coatings. A 1500 degree for $187. A 2000 degree for $200 and the 2500 degree coating for $300. I'm doing the coating mainly for corrosion protection. The 2500 is the toughest coating but I will probably try the 2000 to save a little money. They also charge $50 for stripping, and then whatever return shipping will be.

The coating's gonna be kinda pricey but if it keeps the header looking good for years to come I think it'll be worth it.

 

Nice! Much better. I saw a can of 2000 ceramic coating at auto store for $25 It'll look good, I promise

 

The header is finally done at Jet Hot. The total with stripping and return shipping came to about $260. I hope to receive it this week sometime. Pics are forthcoming!

 

Woooo! Just arrived today!



The header was very well packed and the box is heavy duty. First impression of the coating, it's very rough, like 60 grit sandpaper. They tell you not to scrub or polish it. I went with an antique bronze like color because why not I guess. The color is nicely uniform, there's a bit of overspray on the flange, I'll prob give it a light sanding with a block or something to make sure it's flat. Looks like any threads will need to be chased as well.





The coating really shows the shittiness of my welding though . There's a few areas where the weld is cold and kind of rolled over. There's nothing structural here, just for sealing purposes. I've got my fingers crossed...

A view of the inside. It looks like grey primer. Not sure if it's coated or just a blasted finish. Looks like maybe coated. Speaking of blasting, there was residual grit still in the header. Turning it every which way allows it to fall out. I'll probably blow it out as well. Grit is likely bad for the cat and the air injection system.





So there you have it! I'll post more detailed pics and some of it installed, and some impressions of it's performance. Jet Hot has a great warranty. If the coating performs like they say, it should give great corrosion protection for many years. I'm really hoping it was all worth it.

Stay tuned for install!

 

Hope it works out for you. Looks great.
Did you use the flux core mig wire? I have a spool of it sitting at home and haven't tried it out yet.

 

Yea, it was a stainless flux core from Blue Demon. I'd definitely recommend doing some practice with it. Play with machine settings and such. It runs a lot differently than what I'm used to. This is the first and only stainless flux core I've ever tried so I have no benchmark, but compared to the Lincoln mild steel flux core I've used the stainless has a much different puddle. For me it was very runny and didn't wet out to the edges very well. I got lots of cold overlap. It helps to weave.

If I could do it again I'd save the money from the stainless wire and just use the mild steel stuff I'm accustomed to. I believe it would have turned out better.

 

Cool, I hear that exact response from people that tried that wire out. Just curious if it works for my application.

Hope that coating works. Curious about doing that to my next turbo manifold because I can do mild and just have it coated.

 

Yea, mild is more forgiving. If the coating is as corrosion resistant as it's touted then stainless really has no benefit.

I just got done reinstalling the header. Took just under an hour! This is the third time I've swapped exhaust manifolds now.

A tip for getting the LC header in the engine bay, remove the two long studs that hold the air injection valve onto the head. They have an external torx head on the end of the stud. I used a 6 point 5mm socket to run them out.

And also remove all the brackets holding the AC line to the inner fender well. There's two holding the line and one bracket holding a wire harness. It gives you a bit of flex in the line allowing the header to sneak in. Also it gives you some hand room to get header nuts on and off.

Anti seize everything so it comes off easily the next time. I didn't actually torque spec anything either. Just as tight as I felt comfortable with a standard 3/8" ratchet. I'll check em again after a few dozen miles.

When I fired it up it was quiet. No apparent exhaust leaks. The coating smoked a little and smelled funny but I can only assume that's normal for the first time. It's getting late here so I'll test drive and snap some installed pics in the next day or two.

 

I have just had this happen to my LCE header...........but it took 8 yrs, no snowy/salty area, parked in garage.....the little nugget between the collector tubes inside the collector gave up. Took 3 times chasing leak putting new gaskets on and taking it back off before finding this. Just going back stock for now until I get it fixed. It has no corrosion on it anywhere, no indication of issue on outside whatsoever, except the airplane sounding exhaust......



Hoping for easy fix without removing collector even........search in progress since no welding equip on hand..............

 

Bummer!

I had a hell of a time finding my leak also. Couldn't figure it out for a few weeks.

I contacted LC and they offered to attempt a fix on mine, I'd just pay shipping. It might be worth a phone call if you don't have any equipment at the moment. If it's not fixable you may get a good discount on a new one.

 

Oh yea, update on my header.

It's still looks like the day I got it. Not apparent leaks or issues.

 

Ended up hitting up an exhaust shop nearby and $30 later all welded up inside all nice like without cutting collector off. Also had 4 nuggets added on outside where tubes meet right at collector. Will probably just seek out auto parts ceramic coating after filling header with water to chk for no leaks first......then the don’t wanna take it back apart again right now will have to be gotten over. Kinda liking the quieter truck but definitely missing the driveability bump the header gives. My Gibson catback with Oem manifold made truck sound like Subaru motor with chugging sound. Put oem catback back on for now too. Even put oem intake back on with the afe drop in in it for the total factory setup. Dogs don’t know when I get home now, lol....LCE said no warranty at this point and offered no discount on new one so I just went to attic and pulled out my low mileage oem parts on hand.

 

Right on.

 

I know its an OLD post, but I think LCE used T509 instead of the T304 stainless and the wrap made it even worst for corrosion.