i have pacesetters on mine and what you heard was kind of true.
the first set they sent me the flanges on them were not perfectly flat, but it was my own dumb ass fault that i didn't check them before i put them on.
they send you some piece of junk white cardboard gaskets, so do what 89 said and go ahead and fork it out probably 30 bucks for some copper gaskets.
as for the coating, i did the high temp 1500 degree paint on mine and it burned right off and smelled like ass and now they look kinda ugly but they are not rusting or damaged at all.
the steering shaft was just barely and i mean barely touching the header in one little spot along the revolution of the steering wheel. but i had to beat it with a hammer until i put a little ding in it. works fine now.
when you recieve the headers they should have some black paint on them already to keep them from rusting while they are in a warehouse. have them sandblasted and the ceramic coated. this will give you your best looking and longest lasting finish (unless you want to have them chromed
)