How can I make my slant six exhaust manifold look great?

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cruiser

cruiser

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Hi All: I'll soon be pulling and painting the slant six motor in my 1974 Duster. The car has its original stock exhaust manifold. Its sound, but looks pretty rusty and cruddy. A number of years back I has the manifolds from the 440 in my 69 Charger ceramic coated (I think). Whatever it was that they did, it still looks absolutely perfect today, 25 years later. I want to do this to my Duster's manifold. What's the best process to keep that perfect tan/machine gray look that won't come off or discolor over time? I've had bad luck with hi temp paints. Seems like they need to be ceramic coated to stay looking good. Photo below. What do you think? Thanks - cruiser

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Send it off and have it Jet Hot coated.
 
I bead blasted mine & coated with POR 15. After about 4 years & 10,000 miles they are just starting to rust again.
 
On antique cars some guys have them coated in porcelain. Don’t know much about the details though.
 
Dana67Dart said:
Define "great"
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Great would be defined as: Uniform color perhaps light gray, no flaking chipping or burning off, looking like they were just treated last week even after 20 years has gone by, without any rust coming back ever.
 
No big deal. Any one can do it.

By the way I have some land in Florida with a 360 deg ocian view for sale!

Ceramic coating?
 
Have it be blasted and high temperature Clear coated, or painted iron grey...and touch it up ever so often.
 
I have used the Eastwood high temp brush on paint on two cars. It comes in three colors but I use the "stainless steel" color. When it cures (by heat) it looks like new natural cast iron and lasts years. Easy to touch up.
 
I used VHT 2000 degree "Flame Proof" paint on mine. Blasted it, primed it with VHT 2000 degree primer, paint it with VHT 2000 degree paint and cleared it with VHT 2000 degree paint. That was only two years ago. It's starting to rust through now. There's nothing you can do that'll last 20 years and still look great.
 
Cruiser- did you paint that Valve Cover. It looks like the right color. Brake Booster looks good too
 
Rustoleum BBQ high temp paint works surprisingly well. Have it on my daily driver for 2 years and its just starting to show a hint of rust coming through. Best thing is you can touch it up and its virtually undetectable. It comes in flat black or silver. Spray can or quart.
I have used the expensive paints with poor results. The BBQ paint is only a few bucks.

Is that a factory cruise control?
 
MoparMike1974 said:
Rustoleum BBQ high temp paint works surprisingly well. Have it on my daily driver for 2 years and its just starting to show a hint of rust coming through. Best thing is you can touch it up and its virtually undetectable. It comes in flat black or silver. Spray can or quart.
I have used the expensive paints with poor results. The BBQ paint is only a few bucks.

Is that a factory cruise control?
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Mike: Yes and no to your question. Factory cruise control was not available on a Duster until 1975. I retrofitted a post-1974 factory style cruise control setup into my 1974 Duster. You can read all about it in another article that I wrote entitled "Bob's Component Resto, Part 12: Factory Cruise Control". It works really well, but was a lot of work. Glad I did, though.
 
TF360 said:
Cruiser- did you paint that Valve Cover. It looks like the right color. Brake Booster looks good too
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I did not paint the valve cover. The guy who installed my cylinder head did. It doesn't look very good, to be honest. No worries though, as I'll be pulling and painting the engine next month. The brake booster was professionally rebuilt, which included gold anodizing the vacuum booster housing. Looks exactly like the way they came from the factory. Sadly, the gold anodizing on these boosters wore off pretty quickly and after about three years they all looked terrible. The decal is factory correct. The number on this decal is the last two digits of the booster part number. This decal is available as a repro.
 
Sand blast the exhaust manifold clean, then 2 coats of this High Temp paint.

Best there is, done deal. Stays looking nice. Easy to touch it up with a brush if you mess it up somehow.

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TF360 said:
Cruiser- did you paint that Valve Cover. It looks like the right color. Brake Booster looks good too
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Thanks. Just repainted the valve cover when we did a total repaint of the motor. Brake booster was zinc cadmium plated when it was rebuilt in Portland OR a year ago. I put the correct vintage part number decal on it when the booster came back.
 
I would Recommend a Good Month's Soaking in a water / Molasses soultion, It's Cheap ($10 for the gallon of molasses and $15 for the Giant storage tote) then Dry it properly and then Use Cast Blast.
 
The VHT "ceramic" in white outlasted a header pipe I had. It goes on then is kinda chalky when you touch it (even dry) until you bake it in a BBQ or just run it for about 30 minutes at idle. Itll set up like pottery glaze and the only way I got it off the pipe was to grind it off. Fun fact: iron taken from a moon ore sample has not rusted on 40+ years and there is a cast iron pillar in Delhi, India that is 1500 years old that has not rusted yet.
 
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