[Joshinator99]

After reading this thread, I have to say this is being blown out of proportion. When you install headers, coated or not, you have to protect that harness from the heat. Period. This has been talked about at length since 2016 as a previous poster mentioned. You never want wiring touching exhaust components. Never! Gotta use common sense here.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by ZLRob

Burning plug wires and burning harnesses are not only expensive errors but unnecessary errors that could be avoided entirely by sticking with the OE stuff which were designed to factor that stuff in mind. It might not be the best for performance so I'm not trying to talk anyone out of it, but it's one of those things that's a preference to some who are in the know- how of general mods.

I've owned an OHV engine car with headers before (they came with it) and had to deal with that stuff. No matter what I did or put on them the plug wires would burn and all harnesses/ connectors around the headers became brittle and weak due to the increased heat radiation in the engine bay despite not even coming into contact with them. Yes they were ceramic coated. Eventually I got so sick of messing with the car because of that and other engine related reasons that I just sold it and cut my losses.

That being said, I do appreciate them for what they do and how much flow they open up, but I don't like all the inherent issues that they can and do present, so the reaction has some warrant to it.

Yeah, I've worked on a lot of cars and have to agree, headers often cause issues and ceramic coatings don't block enough heat when the car's driven hard. If a vehicle is a ground-up project then you can plan on locating everything properly but when installed in otherwise stock vehicles the heat is always an issue and you typically have to protect a lot of stuff from heat damage. Without experience it's very easy to overlook something. And typically, you have to spend $ on new sparkplug wires, fabricate heat shields, move stuff, etc. It's an expensive PITA.

TBH, I have no idea why so many people mess with the OEM exhaust on modern cars. In the not so distant past headers used to be worth a TON of power and also better fuel economy, and of course older cars typically also had very restrictive mufflers so it made sense to do a full exhaust. With a 6th gen Camaro you're voiding your warranty, destroying your emissions compliance and spending big-$ for maybe 25hp. IMO, there's a TON of better things to spend your money on, but to each their own.

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by 20Bluezl1

It's not much louder then stock it done correctly. I have ARH headers long system into suitcase and it sounds great around town and when at WOT it's just right not obnoxious loud it's prefect.

Oh and **** those EV ****ers

My Tesla Plaid says come get some.

[6spdhyperblue]

Originally Posted by Z OH 6

Depends on the coating and the wiring harness sheath.

Yeah right

[20Bluezl1]

Originally Posted by Z OH 6

My Tesla Plaid says come get some.

Yea it's said up to 120mph and then see you plus on track no chance. I hate EV no matter what I'm sticking to gas

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by 20Bluezl1

Yea it's said up to 120mph and then see you plus on track no chance. I hate EV no matter what I'm sticking to gas

Didn't quite understand what you said there, but either way, the Plaid eats your breakfast, lunch and dinner until it hits the speed limiter of 163mph. I have a ZL1 for the road course.

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by 6spdhyperblue

Yeah right

Good coatings aren't cheap but worth it.

[Eric10905]

OP, wow, that seriously sucks. Sorry to hear the cost and time.

[laynlo15]

Just because the headers are coated doesn't mean you can't burn the wires if they touch the headers. Coating does reduce some heat but its not a magic coating that is guaranteed to not to get hot. I've had two sets of Speed Engineering that aren't coated and never had a wire burned. Every wire needs to be tied up and away from the headers. Lower tubes should be wrapped that are close to the starter as well as wrapping the starter. Sorry, all that happened as it was very costly and time consuming. Good luck man I feel for ya.

[ZLE dude]

Originally Posted by Trochoidal

Check out these threads for what others did in the past.

Header harness


Post #18
https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...=584862&page=2

Post #18 here too
https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...=564995&page=2

Post #17
https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...=489125&page=2

Bingo. That first link is my post. 2 years later and the zip ties and heat shield are still working perfectly. That wire harness is almost touching the headers when you first install them.

[GunMetalGrey]

Originally Posted by GunMetalGrey

Because my 2" ceramic coated headers melted the wiring harness in the engine bay (that runs from one end of the car to the other) I had to have the entire thing replaced which involved removing literally everything from the inside of the car and more...

The dealership said the wiring harness was too close to the headers and someone had pulled it off the wall, but I've heard other members say it needs to be moved regardless. Not sure but either way, I thought I'd post this in case it helps someone else avoid this happening to them

Ok so I was wrong, in the end it was more like $12,000

The first attempted fix for $4,000 and the 2nd was $8,000 AFTER discounts

[GunMetalGrey]

Originally Posted by mayracn

Before i wold have ripped the whole car apart i would have cut that section out and repaired all the wires. Done properly would have no issues and saved you a bunch of time and money. Sucks it happens.

No, they already spliced all the wiring together, in the melted area... that was the first attempted fix to save me money... But it was too late, it had caused further damage through the harness where it was inside the cab of the car

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by laynlo15

Just because the headers are coated doesn't mean you can't burn the wires if they touch the headers. Coating does reduce some heat but its not a magic coating that is guaranteed to not to get hot. I've had two sets of Speed Engineering that aren't coated and never had a wire burned. Every wire needs to be tied up and away from the headers. Lower tubes should be wrapped that are close to the starter as well as wrapping the starter. Sorry, all that happened as it was very costly and time consuming. Good luck man I feel for ya.

The Jet Hot 2500f coating is a magic coating. If you haven't experienced it, you'll be shocked. I drove my car about 20 miles to have some exhaust work done, got the car up on the rack immediately, touched the headers and they were warm but not hot at all. Everything from the headers back though was WAY too hot to touch for about 20-30 minutes after. Even my exhaust guy was shocked how much of a difference it made. We were just touching them for fun out of disbelief.

[GunMetalGrey]

Originally Posted by BunnyBoy

Would love to have someone post pics of the reroute that is supposed to happen when you put headers on.

So would I, didn't know it was supposed to be done however that's not what the mechanics said was the problem for me, they said the wiring harness had been ripped off and was dangling much closer to the headers than normally would be the case