Yeah , the hard way / seems normal to me tho .
I dont have that dam stuff on mine at all, except where the external oil line is close to the headers , and where the headers are close to the valve covers .
I wrap them really tightly after soaking it in water hanging on a hook in my garage. Then I used near an entire can of silicone header wrap black spray paint. (i.e. I did it right)...
again it's been almost two years and the next time I have them out I will repaint them... I would have liked to have painted them again last year, but I don't want to try and do it with them in the car as I don't think I'll get a nice even coverage and I don't want to get that crap on everything else...
