Anyone have any successs with painting exhaust pipes ? What I mean is the whole exhaust system. I know some guys have painted headers, and I have had limited success with that as it usually doesn't last long. Thinking about the new exhaust I want to build for my 36 sedan. Going to order Porter mufflers in 2 1/2" size. I'll buy a mandrel bent kit and go from there. I don't want to go to the expense of stainless. I know an alternative is having the system ceramic coated, not sure I want to go that route either. Just wondering if it's worth the effort to paint the pipes. Will it last ? And if so what product and prep ?
I had the pipes on my 27 coated with high temp powdercoating. I wasn't sure if it would hold up as the pipes were over 20 years old when I had them done, but surprisingly once they were sandblasted and coated they have been holding up great. Ceramic coating is much better, but this was a fairly inexpensive alternative. Don
I bought some high temp paint for my headers from KBS coatings, I painted the welds on my exhaust system and it has held up well. Mark
Spend the extra $$ for ceramic coating. You will be happier in the long run. I have never seen any paint that really worked over time -especially with a flathead.
Painted my headers and my exhaust sytem with VHT Flameproof rated 1300-2000 degrees. It's holding up great on headers and exhaust.
Another option is to use the aluminized mandrel bent pipe to build your system.Its much cheaper than stainless and IMO looks just as good ceramic coating. I built my system 3 years ago and it still looks like the day I finished it. I mig welded the joints and cleaned and painted each weld joint about 1/2" out on each side of the weld using silver high heat paint and they too have not discolored or rusted.Worked great for me.
x2 Painted my manifolds with it and now have 16,500 miles on the truck, still looks like the day I painted it, also painted the rest of the exhaust with it too and its holding up just as good.
Sanded the pipes with 80 grit then cleaned with paint prep solvent and coated with VHT, hung it up to dry till the next day. The first picture was 3.5 years ago with 4 trips to the salt, just pulled the headers this week to re do. The pipes still look OK. The second picture is from 2 years ago.
I have had good luck on the exhaust pipes with Eastwood's exhaust coating. However it usually burns off the first 6-8" behind the manifolds/headers. Scotch brite then a wipe with solvent to get any oil off.
I used a product Eastwood sells. I think they market it as an exhaust manifold paint. I followed the directions exactly as they appeared on the can which included having to sandblast the pipes. I sprayed two coats on this stuff on the entire system south of the header collectors and it has held up perfectly for 7 years. I only bought a pint can because you don't need much. Great stuff, highly recommend.
I use the brush on stainless steel header paint from Eastwood. It has held up well over the years. Headers are hardest on the paints. Your exhaust behind the headers will not get as hot as the headers and the paint will hold up quite well. I'm too poor for the expensive stuff. My buddy just this week painted over his 427 Ford cast iron headers that he had professionally done 15? years ago. He's very picky. I don't know what system that was used but it was state of the art back then. He was no longer happy with it and brush painted it to clean it up.
What's a good source for the aluminized mandrel bent exhaust kit? All I have ever used is ordinary steel tubing bends.
http://www.hirschauto.com/prodinfo.asp?number=EMPT-SPRAY&variation=BRT ALUM I've had pretty good luck with this.
Here's a couple of sources http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/30671/10002/-1 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/IMM-300727/All/
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