I've only tried painting headers once and learned my lesson. I think they were Cyclone headers (a bright, God-Awful purple color)...sanded and wiped down with alcohol and sprayed on 5-6 coats of high heat white knowing that the shoe-horn job of getting the motor in would mean I'm never pulling it (impossible to get headers out without pulling motor). On first start-up as soon as motor got to temp paint started burning off. Kept the car 3-4 years and the headers always did look like shit
I've used Jet Hot before & it ran around $275.00 inside & out. Even though it sounds like alot upfront, it will be worth it in the long run. Yes take the insert out before you have them coated.
I have a friend that is a POR15 distributor. If you've ever used POR 15, you'll know what a Killer product it is. They make a High Temp Paint also. Another friend was just talking the other day about the POR15 High Temp Paint being the best he's ever used. Coming from this guy, it has to be something special !! He had to heat up a snapped stud in a manifold painted with the POR15 High Temp Paint and said he heated it up cherry red and the stuff didn't blister, peel, etc... Do a search on POR15 and give their product a try. Their other products are Killer.
i use red devil b-b-q black paint - sandblast, glass bead or rough sand the headers - wipe them down w/ acetone or lac. thinner - hang them up by the flanges w/ collectors pointing down & close to ground - i spray 3 medium coats on, air drying in between each coat - after the 3rd coat is tacky, i light up a propane torch & sit it on the ground with the flame going up the collector - let it completely warm the header - too hot to touch w/ bare hand - when you take the flame off of it, cool the header with water - this will last for years
I have some headers done here also, havent fired engine yet. Priced reasonable too. Also have a set done by jet-hot, kinda pricey but look great yet after 14 years!
I have to agree with the Eastwood header paint. I touch mine up in the spring and it stays nice all year. It gets a little burned late in the year, but my headers are thin. For the price I am very happy with it. I have been useing the same car for 10 years now, with many still left.
I'm not just saying this because I'm a dealer, but POR-15 has outlasted any other heat paint I've ever used by a long shot. I can do 3 sets of big block Chevy manifolds out of 1 8oz. can of manifold paint. You can apply it by brush instead of having to spray it. You can check it out at www.por15.com If you have any questions about any of the products don't hesitate to contact me. If you decide to go with a ceramic coating, I've had the best results with Jet Hot Coatings in Mississippi. Hope this helps.
i have seen where some of you guess are disspleased with the VHT paint but me and a good buddy of mine has had good luck with it. i just did what the can said painted the first coat put em in the oven and waited 30 mins put another coat on, crank up the heat and wait 30 mins and so on till they were done and they held up great. i painted mine white and my buddy painted his grey and they still look good
I have used the rattle can coating from eastwood but when i did i scuffed the headers with a red scotch brite pad and wipe them down really good with a wax and grease remover and heated the paint up in front of a shop heater for about twenty minutes and i also heated up the headers really good in front of a propane floor heater for about a half hour before spraying them, and they still look great been about a year so far! Hope that helps some!
Thanks for all the advice . I have one more place here in OKC called Performance coatings I am going to get a quote from and if they are over 250 I am going down the rattle can route. I really like the way the metallic black looks, it has just a little flake in it from Alvin, they have been making high heat paint for over 50 years. Everyone else seems to be going with white or silver for a color I guess I need to look at some more rides a little bit before I make up my mind on the black. My car won't have any chrome on it and most dress up pieces will be satin or brushed aluminum except the valve covers which are polised aluminum along with some of the components of my 3 x 2 intake setup. Engine is black tranny is simi polished from being in a vibratory tumbler so it looks to good to cover up, frame is satin black and all the hardware is unpainted.\ Suspension and rearend are all painted satin black, not sure on body color yet. 29 tudor
One thing cool about the style of headers you bought..easy as hell to take off and touch up. so if you do go the rattle can route, and in a few years, they need some TLC..its a few bolts and an hour or 2 and your back to fresh. if you do paint them, I suggest painting the inside too, Not the baffles, also a few thin coats is better than one thick coat, and heat them up in between coats. I use my wood burner out in my shop to do the baking.. also one big mistake people make that complain about the paint not sticking, is they dont sandblast em before painting them.. take your time and sandblast em, and when they come out of the blaster put on a pair of rubber gloves, and wipe them down with acetone.. and dont touch them with your bare hands before painting them.. good luck..let us know how they turn out. you sure as hell can paint them a shit load of times for 300 or 400 bucks..eh?
if you use the header paint, make sure you don't cook it in your wife's oven... break it in on the engine, or use your bbq grill. i still get scalded and fussed at for stinking out the whole house with paint fumes, and that was months ago.
I've sent 4 sets of headers to jet-hot over the years for customers. They dropped one set hammered out the dent and coated them and sent them to my customer.. Another set was damaged by ??? again they coated them and sent them to my customer damaged. EVEN DAMAGED THEY STILL COATED BOTH SETS !!!!! Basically ya got a 50/50 shot of getting junk when ya started with gold.... They did own up and pay for the headers but I got lucky, both customers were cool with me and I got them new headers.... I don't recommend jet-hot!
I could do a lot of work on my car for 400 bucks pass..kinda border line gold chainer stuff there if you ask me...
That's been my approach, I use VHT and put several coats on, letting each one dry in the sun for a day, and I spray it down the inside from both ends as much as I can get also. I can usually get 3-4 years before I have to do it again. The freshly painted headers need to be heat cycled a couple of times to "set" the paint. I usually run the motor, bring 'em up to temp where they start to smoke, shut it down, let it cool, then do it again. Repeat until they don't smoke anymore. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
BLUE "PEPTO BISMOL" TREATMENT! I'm heading the paint route on my tube headers for the roadster. Running a flattie and may try the silver BBQ grill paint? Another idea here that I might try is the pipe coating I put on the inside of my Harley headers couple years back. Called Royal Blue (?) or something similar. Picked it up at the bike store (Freedom Cycle in Okie City) Looks like blue Pepto Bismol. Poured it down the pipes and rolled it around to cover all surfaces. Collected the excess to repeate the process till I ran out of liquid. Maby about 5 coats down there. After several years riding that cycle, there is no blueing or discoloration of the chrome headers. Works great and wondering if this could help when the headers are painted? ANYONE OUT THERE TRY THIS?
it would have to have a film of oil on it at all times(impossible with headers) .or it would rust..bluing is kinda a form of corrosion, controlled...not a rust preventative..
I use swain tech coatings in NY. They are not as expensive as jet hot and in my opinion a better product. Contact them at http://www.swaintech.com
Blue gun barrels rust even if they never see the light of day. Don't want to send them off. Everytime they get sent anywhere there is a chance of them getting messed up just like Matt said. A lot easier to deal with problems if they are local. There is a lot of feed back on this issue so I do appreciate the ideas.
Whatever you do dont use VHT, that stuff will flake off and then your header will rust within a couple of trips. I had to take mine off, strip them and then repaint them with Rustoleum BBQ paint and they will be good to go for a long time.
The header manufacturers get them coated for less than $100. I understand they get a deal but here in Ohio we shop around and get them done for $125 cash
Thats sounds like a good deal Bert. I am still looking around here but I bet I don't find a deal like that.
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