Technical Painting mufflers red

I'm thinking of going with a cherry bomb look for my mufflers but after researching high temp paints, both the rustoleum 2000 degree and VHT flame proof header paints, I'm reading that BOTH turn a canary yellow when applied to a surface that gets hot.

VHT does offer a red caliper paint rated at 900 degrees intermittent, haven't seen where that turns yellow in any reviews, not sure if it'll handle continuous use.

Anybody know of a red paint that will handle high temps? Thanks

 

Did the original Cherry Bomb mufflers use any particularly special high temp paint? I recollect that they would get rusty over time.

 

You’re over thinking .


A catalytic converter can get real hot .


Mufflers and exhaust pipe down the line from the header I would guess anywhere from 300- 500 degrees .


What kind of car , exhaust system , engine , performance level , etc . Will all play into the exhaust temp . But 900 degrees at the muffler sounds extreme .


Any high heat or calliper paint should do the job just fine .


Ive be painted mufflers with normal black spray paint many times over the years and it’s lasted fine with the occasional touch up .

 

In the old days,,,,,,we painted headers high heat red .
When cold ,,,,the pipes were red,,,,,when hot,,,they turned black .
If you had a cylinder that wasn’t firing good,,,,,or completely dead,,,,,,,the tube would give it away.
The tube would be a lighter shade,,,,than the others .
It works,,,,try it .

I’ve never seen any that turned yellow.

Tommy

 

Mmmm...mufflers are meant to be heard NOT seen !

Mike

 

I just installed a set of Cherry Bombs..it took a bit of grinding at the joining area to get to bare metal, so I could get a good weld on them..I'm thinking todays Cherry Bombs are powder coated.
I agree gl*** packs further down from the engine should hold up with high heat paint.

 

I bought some cheap stainless gl*** packs.
Haven’t installed em yet.
I smoked a set of cherry bombs during an engine break in once.
Paint surviving has a lot to do with prep. Being clean and properly sanded.
But the caliper paint should survive

 

Thanks, I'll try the caliper paint, it's a 480 hp 383 with 2 chamber flowmaster knockoffs, can't imagine the mufflers getting hotter than 400 degrees at 3 feet back, the pics of the red super high heat paint turning yellow is astonishing

 

I painted my down tubes where I had to do some welding with high temp silver. They look just like they did the day after I painted them. If it didn't burn off there, your mufflers should be safe.

 

Here you go.
At WOT on a 500 HP engine, these are typical temps.

A is at collector.
B is in front of muffler.
C is out of muffler,
D is at Tailpipe outlet.

Test Point Temperature (Degrees F) Temperature (Degrees F)
3.0" Tailpipes 2.25" Tailpipes
A 1185. 1185
B 1030. 1025
C. 710 . 710
D 550 . 625

 

Thanks

 

Maybe on a show car that never runs you may be fine. Never really thought about mufflers turning colors. I think in the world I live in, If someone crawls under my car to do a muffler color inspection, they need to get a life. But I watch Gunsmoke re-runs and I'm ok with it. Lippy

 

They'll be slightly visible from a side view, hopefully it looks good...

 

If they are the ones from Summit racing, we have a set of those stainless gl*** packs on Taboo, they sound good, have the right sounds a gl*** pack should have.

 

Amazon generic
https://www.amazon.com/Jones-Exhaus...t=&hvlocphy=9012623&hvtargid=pla-886966620643

 

I know your painting yours but I found these. https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Perform...fGgFG5HTgzYmXU5VUzi90gD1n_Ia7RRBoC4boQAvD_BwE

 

I’ve used POR-15 hi temp paint on headers and an exhaust system and Rustoleum hi temp paint on an exhaust system. Both are still there after 3500 miles.

John

 

I use this brand of paint, cpf-43122.html on exhaust manifolds, it holds up well and should be really good back at the mufflers.

 

Thanks for all the replies!!

 

Hello,

In high school, it was a popular thing to paint the whole underside of the car white or silver. Most cars did not have any undercoating or what little the factory did nothing, so an extra layer or two of paint certainly helped in keeping the rust at bay. I certainly thought about doing just that, but my choice was to get the whole undersides, a thick spray on commercial applied black undercoating for salt water protection, as we were using the Impala for beach road trips and such.

But, White was the choice of car show guys/girls, but as nice as it looked on those show cars, the color was/is just not for daily drivers. One trip down the road in some inclement weather is enough to make the white color now looking like road grime of any color. When those hot rods and cruisers had the white paint on the undersides, they looked grand.

When I got some Corvette tubular “off road” mufflers from our friend in Los Angeles for the 1958 Impala, I painted them silver. The silver lasted for the whole time I owned the car until sold in 1965. (even after plenty of salt water incursions, snow/mud and were all cleaned with under side power washing sprays)

Picture those custom cars we saw, including one Red, Buick powered 1940 Ford Sedan with all white tuck and roll upholstery sitting in the drive-in restaurant parking lot just glistening with the contrast in red, white, chrome and a cool white undercoating. Luckily, there was a neighborhood spray washing place to get it cleaned prior to the Friday/Saturday night drive-in shenanigans.

Jnaki

In more recent times, I have used a product called Duplicolor on metal of all kinds. The rusty metal brake housings were cleaned, the color applied and it overcomes the heat being brought on by constant usage. They were the so called “experts” in that field of color paint application for all braking metal surface needs. Now, they have also branched out in the spray field for exhaust pipes and for you, muffler coatings.

We also did spray the high heat paint on the exhaust Hedman Header pipes with a black, ending all sorts of discolorations during our drag racing Willys Coupe time.

Note: You know that no one crawls under your car to see the “red” color of mufflers or as a matter of fact, any color under there unless it shows up in the wheel well of each car. Then some interest shows in a different approach to custom stuff. Good or bad… YRMV

 

They will be slightly visible from a side view of the car

 

OH hell it's Christmas so I won't give you an extra ration.
High heat engine paint will probably last as long as anything. Or an outfit does sell Red high heat stove paint for wood stoves. A pair of actual cherry bombs might be cheaper than a couple of cans of the paint though Stove Paint | Mojave Red (woodstoves-fireplaces.com)

Dang I remember when I worked for Bowden's auto parts we had Cherry bombs in a barrel in bulk for guys to grab for around 10 bucks each.

 

I don't want actual cherry bombs, I like chambered mufflers, just going for the look

 

Anyone remember “Purple Hornies”?

 

Yep. The ones I have heard were LOUD.

 

Still make them. Got a pair on my 39 Chevy

 

I'd maybe try a ceramic coating place, like https://swaintech.com/ I've seen people ceramic coat turbos hot side diff colors in YT videos.

 

Might not be the same but I painted the muffler and pipe on my Grey Petrol Fergie tractor with VHT flat black and after a couple of months of slasher work with the Fergie at flat chat throttle the paint looks the same as when applied. Distance from head to muffler approximately 12".

 

You could simply buy chambered Cherry Bombs! What a concept.

 

I ceramic coat headers, powder coat the rest if the system. Works great. These are 15 yrs old or so and still look fine, save being a little dirty! Powder coating still has the original gloss right at the hottest point at the flange. m No harm at all.