ARH Long tubes

Hey Matt, had a question about your ARH Longtube headers. I had long considered shorty headers as better for the low end, but after doing some research, found that you get better gains all around so long as you choose longtubes with primaries that are small enough to keep exhaust velocity up, in other words: no loss of low end torque. In fact, it increases it. My question though, do the ARH longtubes come with a ceramic coating or are they just stainless steel? The only trade-off with the smaller primaries is the extra heat they produce and I wanted to make sure they came with a coating. BTW, just received my 87mm throttle body and can't wait to get it installed. I have a strong feeling it is the first of several performance mods

I asked the samething he told me they are just stainless but a great quality of stainless

I couldn't imagine that for $1700 they AREN'T coated.

That being said, I don't see anything on their site that makes me think they are.
It's another $400 ish (I believe) to get em JEThot coated.

Yeah, the price tag would make one think that they were coated, but I didn't see it on there either. Thanks for chiming in. This isn't something I'm looking to do anytime soon, but I like to do my research well in advance.

Big Green said:

Yeah, the price tag would make one think that they were coated, but I didn't see it on there either. Thanks for chiming in. This isn't something I'm looking to do anytime soon, but I like to do my research well in advance.

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I hear ya. I have a slew of mods spec'd out that I'd like to do at some point in the future. long tubes were on the list, but I'd rather go with a nice turbo charger instead, which'd required custom headers. I'm not doing that remote mount rubbish.

don't quote me on this, but i believe since they're made of a higher quality steel, they're not coated, and not necessary to coat. other headers that are made of a mid grade steel need to be coated.

09SMOKINHEMI said:

don't quote me on this, but i believe since they're made of a higher quality steel, they're not coated, and not necessary to coat. other headers that are made of a mid grade steel need to be coated.

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Usually the coating is to hold the heat into the headers which is key. Cheaper stainlesses like 400 series WILL rust, but so will 304's around the welds where the iron and carbon can pool after the welding process. ARH are well known as one of the best out there and they'll be the ones I get for my G8 when it stops being my DD. IMO, headers on a DD doesn't make sense. They're louder in the cabin and can leak causing gasket changes and such. The 3/8" flanges on the ARH's really relieve that issue though.

Chris

I had long tubes on my 2002 Trans AM and short tubes on my 2007 Charger with no issues on either one save for some tight clearances on the Trans Am. However, if you've ever worked on a late model one, then you know everything about a Trans Am's engine bay is tight. Looking at the ARH design makes me think that you'd still have a bit of room to work on the vehicle as they appear to pretty much go straight back from the flange. Again, not something I plan on doing anytime soon. Want to get my new 87mm throttle body installed and then either grab an InTune when it becomes 2012 compatible or a Mufflex setup. Probably going to go with the InTune being that I feel the factory muffler flows pretty good as is. Headers are definitely on the agenda though be it shorties or longtubes. They make a world of difference in performance and sound.

I had this same conversation with ARH a month ago. They said they tested their headers on the dyno both coated and uncoated, and the difference was less than 5rwhp. On a mild steel header that will rust quickly, the coating is well worth the cost. On a quality stainless like the ARH, it isnt as important. Most good intakes will have a sealed airbox, so the little extra heat under the hood isnt a huge factor. If you want the coating for the look, then nobody can argue with that. I just wouldnt feel that you have to coat them to get the full performance benefit of the headers.