Header paint?

[msc66]

Is there any header paint that's worth a crap? With the motor out of my car I'd like to do something about the rusty chrome headers and I definitely don't have the $ for Jet Hot but when I was doing this back in the 80's header paint would last maybe 2 months before it would burn off and start to rust.

Any experiences or suggestions?

[tiresmoke!]

Re: Header paint?

I'm glad you mentioned this...I was just gonna post a similar question.

Jet Hot and ceramic-coat is nice, but too $$$ for this guy............

[DanStokes]

Re: Header paint?

We had a similar thread a while back. Several of the guys suggested BBQ paint, which I tried on my repaired headers. I'll let you know how it works. All in all, if you clean the substrate correctly I think the high temp paints are much improved over the past few years.

Dan

[mlcraven]

Re: Header paint?

I've tried just about everything in the way of commercially avail modern hi-temp paint products on headers, BBQs and wood stoves and, while they're better than they used to be, nothing comes close to the ceramic/Jet Hot style treatments (not that most folks would use either on a BBQ or stove).

The real durability issue, not surprisingly, is in the first 6-8 inches of the header closest to the exhaust port, at greater distances the modern paints seem to perform much better than in years past. The best I've found is the widely avail VHT black.

I had the headers in my car ceramic coated three years ago at some considerable expense. Notwithstanding rigourous adherence to the directions for preserving the finish, given me by the firm that did the job, there is already considerable discolouration and early signs of corrosion near flange welds.

Please let me know if you do find a paint product that works to your satisfaction -- we could all use a break on the cost of header preservation solutions.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: Header paint?

VHT header paint. I put it on my Buick and I've been pleased with the result. It is NOT ceramic coating, but it is acceptable coating that's lasted (so far) 3 years.

with several provisos
1) It cannot have ANY paint on it - so you have to remove the paint they spray on the headers.
2) It cannot be painted over rust.
3) IT MUST BE SUPER CLEAN
4) You have to handle with gloves until it goes through a heat cycle - otherwise the grease will make the paint fail to adhere.

When you spray the paint on, it is not very durable, it's almost a powdery consistancy. When you fire up the motor, it heats the header and then adheres quite a bit better afterwards.. it is still NOT ceramic coating, so it's not durable if you chip it, get grease on it, or scratch it.... but provided you take care - it looks pretty decent.

(Have I made it clear it's not ceramic coating? ) it does work, and it's not 250-300 to put it on.... and it also adheres to stainless (I have flowmaster headers which have a stainless mid-tube).
It really does look acceptable...

[Freiburger]

Re: Header paint?

Eastwood's cast manifold paint seems to work pretty well.

[BBR]

Re: Header paint?

I shot my rusty homebuilt headers with BBQ paint (rustoleum maybe?) just so they would photograph better and amazingly enough, it is still there. Surprised the crap out of me. NO surface prep at all.

From this:



To this:



The orange on there is RTV.

[Weldangrind]

Re: Header paint?

I think that the secret is in heat curing. Used barbecue grills are free at the curb in my area, so I will likely pick one up when the time comes to paint my manifolds. I plan (as Stoneshrink says) to prep properly and handle with gloves until the product is properly cured. The benefit to the grill is that you can apply, bake, apply and bake again before installing the headers / manifolds.

I would guess that long tube headers won't fit, but it should be fine for manifolds or shorty headers.

The sick temptation is to build an oven using the grill burner and a 45 gallon drum. Who would use such a thing after the headers are done?

Although, my buddy and I used an old grill to heat up a cast iron manifold so we could weld it.

Hmmm (to quote Turk).

[Caveman]

Re: Header paint?

I found that a good way to prep headers or manifolds prior to painting is to spray 'em down with 'Must for Rust' (from Home Bleepot)... cleans the rust in all the nooks & crannies and turns white when it heats up...

[AllenK]

Re: Header paint?

I've tried just about everything in the way of commercially avail modern hi-temp paint products on headers, BBQs and wood stoves and, while they're better than they used to be, nothing comes close to the ceramic/Jet Hot style treatments (not that most folks would use either on a BBQ or stove).

The real durability issue, not surprisingly, is in the first 6-8 inches of the header closest to the exhaust port, at greater distances the modern paints seem to perform much better than in years past. The best I've found is the widely avail VHT black.

I had the headers in my car ceramic coated three years ago at some considerable expense. Notwithstanding rigourous adherence to the directions for preserving the finish, given me by the firm that did the job, there is already considerable discolouration and early signs of corrosion near flange welds.

Please let me know if you do find a paint product that works to your satisfaction -- we could all use a break on the cost of header preservation solutions.

My headers have been coated twice,and now they're starting to rust again. It's really bad by the flanges like you said,and I've taken good care of them pretty good also. The #8 tube is getting really bad,and it's almost impossible to reach in and polish.
I've used Jet-Hot and HPC,and I've gotten rust back through from both companies.

Anyway, I've heard John Deere muffler paint is really good also. I don't know what's so special about it,but I have heard about it being used.

[msc66]

Re: Header paint?

Had a little time today to do some interweb pokin' around and from what I've read, baking them seems to be the the thing. So, I think I'll do a bit more searching before deciding on a product then after blasting and cleaning, use a propane heater to warm them up, paint them (away from the heater of course) then hang 'em back over the heater to bake for a while. Hell, can't be any worse than the rust that's on there now. I'll let you know how it turns out when I do it.

[bnjny]

Re: Header paint?

I've used Por 20 high heat paint with great results. I don't have any pics at the moment. But the exhaust on my wife's DD is holding up to the Northeast winters just fine...



I just used some left over paint that has to be about 2 years old on the headers on my Suburban...

[Falcon67]

Re: Header paint?

I used some Eastwood paint on the 4V headers, some Duplicolor high heat on the 302 headers and HPC coated the 2V headers in the Mustang. After 8 years, the Eastwood paint is holding up the best, followed by the Duplicolor. The $250 HPC coating is rusting through. Pisses me off big time.

[Impalarod]

Re: Header paint?

Heres a link to a product I've used before with sucess.

http://www.nomorerust.com/highheat/

As stoneshrink said, prep is the seacret. Everything he has listed should be done.

[Falcon67]

Re: Header paint?

Heres a link to a product I've used before with sucess.

http://www.nomorerust.com/highheat/

As stoneshrink said, prep is the seacret. Everything he has listed should be done.

Violated every one of those on the Hookers used on the 302. The Duplicolor still stuck LOL.