Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Ceramic coating of exhaust manifold

I have read on a few Ford tuning websites that ceramic coating of the exhaust manifold can reduce under bonnet temperature a provide a moderate increase in performance.

Thinking about doing this on my 2013 +4 and costs seem be in the region of £250 pounds.

Has anyone done this and feel that it is worthwhile?

Would be interested to hear an answer on this. Should or could the CAT(s) be coated as well?

Yes I have on my '02 trad +8.

As I also changed the exhaust manifolds at the same time I cannot definitively say if the under bonnet temperature was reduced, but anecdotally I would say it does.(Also looks good)

It is important to do the inside AND the outside.

I did not do the Catalysts.

About 4-5 years ago I had a quote from Zircotec of £250 per a 4 cyl manifold so £500 for the Plus 8. That was at their stand at the Silverstone Classic.
There is a general guide of 1 bhp per 7 deg drop in incoming air temp. with no other mods to the system.

What about wrapping the manifold with heat retaining tape. It does not look very good and I've seen some negative reports on it. Has anyone tried it?

Many racers (and bikers) use exhaust wrapping. I have not done it myself, but am planning to in the near future - mainly because the air intake is just a few cm from the manifold and it therefore sucks hot air. Some say that the wrap retains moisture and causes rust and corrosion, others maintains that they have not seen any adverse effects over long time.I think Kewfitz here on TM has done a nice and good looking wrap, perhaps he would like to comment? Ceramic coating is most likely a better alternative, but too expensive and complicated for my taste - bearing in mind that my Roadster lives indoors in a heated garage and is driven 5000 km a year at the most, seldom when it rains. I have been adviced not to wrap the cats, as the temperature rise inside the cat might affect them.

I have put a single skin thin metal aluminium cover round my cats held on by stainless ties. Not a huge insulation but helps maintain heat for the cat to work. I am thinking of exhaust wrap and a cold air feed for the air intake. I have rear bonnet extenders to help airflow out from under the bonnet. I have removed these for the time being due to it being winter and very limited driving.
Also tried an extra feed to the bottom area of the rad as that area is partly obscured. Again more trials when mileage allows. My rad fan cuts in and no overheating.
It’s a Plus 8 and the Rover engine fills the volume so restrictions to work round. It gets rather warm under the bonnet! Incoming air gets heated easily more than 20deg above ambient in tests done so far.

I have wrapped the manifold of my 2013 Plus 4 with Titanium tape. That’s the brand name and I don’t think it’s actually made from titanium.
The reason for doing this was twofold. First to reduce the heat going into the ITG air intake housing that sits just above the manifold and, secondly, to push the heat further down the exhaust system in order to keep the 200 cell cat hot.

The wrapping process was easy to do and cheap. How much benefit it gives is not clear but must help a little.

Bob.

I had my old 1990s "Big Bore" stainless manifolds on my +8 wrapped. Definitely cooler and the wrapping lasted well over 10 years.

I was quoted £156.00 +VAT to ceramic coat the headers on my 4/4 for nothing other than aesthetic reasons. That was in October and I planned to take the exhaust off over winter and get them done. Then Lockdown versions 2 & 3 put paid to that. Can't see as doing a 70 mile round trip to get my exhaust system tarted up is an essential journey. There's always next winter. Maybe.