Recently Random mentioned the improvements that could be gained by ceramic coating the intake manifold. I believe that he stated that the IM should be coated inside and out. On that line of thinking is there anything else that ceramic coating would help improve on an otherwise stock Beta motor.
I was thinking of coating my stock exhaust manifold. First, I do not currently want to by any of the headers that are available because I do not want to replace my entire exhaust system. I understand that coating my exhaust manifold would cause it to hold in heat better and that should increase performance. No, I do not fully understand why this is so and therefore maybe someone out there could further expound on this theory.
If coating the manifold keeps the heat in the exhaust pipes it obviously would also keep the engine bay temps lower. The benefits to lower engine bay temps are many. If any of you guys/gals have any further ideas or can point me in the direction for further research it would be appreciated.

 

The inside/outside coatings do different things.

The "inside" coating is a "flow" coating to help air move better. It also reflects some heat, keeping it in the exhaust, but primarly is there to improve flow.

The "outside" coating is there to keep heat in. The hotter the Exhaust manifold gets, the hotter the exhaust gases stay. Similar to external heat wrap. When gasses cool, the contract, this slows down the gas, causing backpressure. By keeping the gas hot, you keep it moving...which reduces backpressure.

Ceramic coating the stock IM would be an extreme waste of money. Save the $100 to $200 you would spend on that for a decent set of headers and exhaust when you can afford them.