My lake pipes on my A are losing there finish and have been repaired in the past(cracks and a break) they were originally ceramic coated.....the luster is just about finished. I was thinking of painting them white with VHT paint or Black with BBQ paint. I like white better.....but I think that it won't last. Would this be a yearly ritual? Any thoughts and expeirences?
Why not Powder Coat them if you want them White or Black? It isn't that expensive and would defanitly last a lot longer. Gumpa
Powder coating usually dosen't last on headers.My expierience on painting headers that I found to work well goes like this.First wipe down with laq. thinner,then I bead blast them.Where gloves when you remove em.Then I blow them off really good and put on the first coat of VHT lightly.once tacked up shoot another 2 med. coats.Let dry thouroughly.Take a clean lint free rag and wipe them down several times.This takes off all residue and overspray. Then shoot them again with 2 coats dry wipe again and install with gloves on. I have done this to many street cars and sprint cars and seems to last a long time.Make sure your engine is tuned properly 1st though.Hope this helps.And it's still cheaper than Jet hot coatings.A little labor.
I've done both, the BBQ lasted better but didn't look nearly as good. Probably every other year, unless you're on the show circuit or something. Yeah, I'm bummed that ceramic coating apparently doesn't last. I always figured once I was rolling in dough, I could just get a set of headers ceramic coated white and forget about them.
I've had great luck with the brush on stainless header paint from Eastwood. It holds up on cast iron manifolds well and especially well on the cooler pipes farther back in the system. Like all paints, surface prep makes all the difference in the world.
I love white headers....it's sorta like white gogo boots. On Fatabones car we were going to paint over the aluminum coated headers but we found a pouder couter that does high temp white. It's held up pretty good so far. The white header paint may last longer on the coated headers. The coating usually keeps them cooler. Then again you might as well wait till after the Showdown. The mud will stain those fresh headers Clark
I Used Dupli-color High Temp Exaust Paint On My Exaust Manifolds. It Looked Awesome At First But Totally ****ed Soon Later. It Lasted About 48 Hours. And Smelled Terrible.
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