harrisonm
Well-Known Member
I know there are a lot of ways to protect your exhaust manifolds and headers, and I am not trying to disagree with anyone who has had good luck with spray can products. Let me show you what I believe to be the BEST do it yourself process and product there is. I have been powder coating for about 15 years. It started out as a hobby, and then people started asking me to do things for them. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I am retired now, and Powder coating feeds my car addiction. Anyway, I used to sand blast exhaust manifolds and apply High Temp powders that were supposed to be good up to 1200 degrees. Well, they weren’t. In fact, those powders were so crappy, and the distributors got so many complaints, I don’t even think you can find them anymore. I refunded money to several customers and stopped doing exhaust systems. Then I found this stuff; Tech Line Coatings Color Gard spray on ceramic paint. When properly applied, it is very much like a ceramic coating job that you will pay a lot for from a professional ceramic coating place. You do need to follow the instructions carefully. You blast the parts, clean them thoroughly, spray the paint on and then cure the paint. There are 2 ways to cure the paint. In a powder coating oven (that’s what I do), or after the paint is dry, put them on your car and run it for a while and let them heat treat themselves. Do not cure them in the home oven. The paint emits toxic fumes that might spoil your next batch of chocolate chip cookies. I have not done headers, but I have done a lot of exhaust manifolds. The paint is fairly expensive, about $200 per quart, but a little goes a long way. I can do 4 or 5 pairs of exhaust manifolds with one quart. Several people could go in on a quart of paint. Anyway, here are some before and after pictures. PS If anybody has specific questions, ask away, or send me a personal message.
