Although stainless is the best way to go, there are a few tips that will help keep an aluminized system nice for quite a while. Don't weld it together because the welds are where it will rust and fail first. Use stainless clamps instead of the raw steel. Any hangers should be stainless or painted with clear or weld through coating to avoid bare steel from touching the pipe. Any scratches or scuffs are going to rust so what I have done for restorations that have aluminized exhaust is to clean it all with solvent to degrease it, skotchbrite or steel wool any scratches or bare spots including the cutoff ends and spray it with 2 good coats of VHT 1500 degree clear. You can do a third coat and steel wool it to lower the gloss if it is too shiny for your taste. After installing it touch up any spots that are scuffed. The secret is to prevent the rust before it starts. The clear will cure for a while when the engine is running. This has lasted quite a while for me with periodic touchups and as long as the engine is not lean with high exhaust temps. It will look nice until it rusts from the inside out which it will in time. I've also found some stainless systems do some weird things with expansion and contraction especially the cheaper quality ones leading to rattles and oddities that aluminized sytems don't seem to have. As in all things your mileage way vary, just some thoughts.:glasses7:
