painting new headers.

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19scamp72

19scamp72

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Hey guys i have a set of non coated steel doug headers. I want to paint them before i install them. Does anyone have a method of painting them without rust later on or flaking of paint. Iv heard something about baking paint on. Yes i know i should of bought coated headers..also will breaking a new 340 in with theee headers if that makes any difference.
 
Follow manufactureres instructions. This won't work out well for you.

Take them or ship them out to be coated and best if you do this after break in.
 
I sent mine to the local powder coater. He applied a satin black high heat thermal coating and baked them several times. $75.00. made 20 pulls on the dyno plus cam break in etc. they look great.
 
Satin black thermal coat cost me 320 :( thermal chrome was 150 blah. Some have gotten VHT High heat header paint primer and black and it has worked. They usually bake it in their BBQ
 
Ahh yah bbq good idea... ill look into powdercoating them! Thanks for input.
 
I called its roughly 60 bucks for high heat powdercoating im going with this route
 
best paint I found is BBQ paint that they sell at hardware stores. used it on my ram headers with good results and plan on using it on the headers for my 5th ave and exhaust manifolds for my dart
 
"... baked them several times ..."

Hmmm, interesting. High temp ceramic coatings air dry over the course of a few days and do not get cured like cosmetic powder coating. I think someone may have been pulling your lariat fisher.
 
If you use the bbq paint apply it thin then bake it. It holds up good but not like power coating.
 
spikekid999 said:
best paint I found is BBQ paint that they sell at hardware stores. used it on my ram headers with good results and plan on using it on the headers for my 5th ave and exhaust manifolds for my dart
Click to expand...

THIS WORKS^^^^^^^^^!!!!!

I used cast iron black BBQ grill paint from ACE hardware on my fenderwall Hooker's and it still looks great 8 years later and looks new yet. I think it is from Rustoleum? This works better than any header paint you can buy. I did not bake mine either, just painted them, then it was a few months before the engine got started and broke in, no burned paint anywhere.

I know of many people who use this, my buddy uses it on his motorcycle pipes too and they still look great, even after 10 years of use. Don't waste your time and money, go get the BBQ grill paint.
 
The BBQ paint does work great. My only one complaint with it is that it is very easy to scratch. As long as you cover them while installing, you shouldn't have a problem.
 
Motopsycho said:
send them to the Mistress of Metal
Click to expand...

Nope Eddie, don't send them to me. I got out of high temp ceramic coatings a few years ago mainly because the shipping costs were just too prohibitive for my customers. The last ones I coated, a pair of full length headers, were almost $100 EACH WAY just to Mississippi one state away!!

It's not so much the excessive labor or time involved that makes professional ceramic coatings so expensive; it's the ceramic material itself that's so pricey. I bought two quarts, one silver and one satin black, and with the shipping it was almost $300. A little bit goes a long way too -- I've gotten 3 or 4 full sets of headers out of the silver and have used the satin black on all of my oven racks (to keep them from rusting and dropping rust flakes on customers' parts) and still have quite a bit of each left over for future personal projects.

All you need to do it yourself is a way to blast the exhaust components, wash and dry them with compressed air, and hang them up on wires or hooks so you have 360-degree access. (You'll also want them low enough that you can direct the coating into the tubes too for interior coverage.)

The high temp ceramic coating is applied with a simple HVLP spray gun and you let it dry in the open air. You can handle the parts within an hour or two (when it's no longer tacky) and it fully "cures" over the next five days whether it's hanging on wires, sitting on your shop floor or already installed in your car.

My cosmetic powder supplier is the same place that makes the best high temp ceramics available and you'll all be happy to know they will deal with the public directly (as far as I know anyway). This is where you start ...

http://NICIndustries.com

I know the Jet Hot et al., guys aren't going to be too happy with this post but I see no reason to continue to keep it a big secret, especially since this is ultimately a DIY Automotive Forum. I can't teach you how to do custom powder work over the internet but there's nothing difficult at all about working a paint gun and pretty much anybody can do it with satisfactory results.

If you have a couple other guys/gals in your area who also want to get their exhaust components done, you can all go in together and split the cost of the ceramic coating. As I said, a little bit goes a long way ...

I hope this helps! :-D
 
You're welcome! And guess what??? Dry film and thermal barrier / engine internal lubricants are applied with an air brush and cure in a toaster oven. :-D
 
When I had my bike shop 17 years ago I did a lot of researching internal coatings. I still have a wall mount oven I obtained for that purpose. I also have a few OLD airbrushes so it looks like I'm set! Thanks again Mike
 
Thank you so much for that website Leanna. I was wondering what to coat my exhaust manifolds with.
 
Eastwood sells a "stainless paint" for exhausts that works great on headers. I used it on a DIRT race car and made believers out of a lot of fellow racers. I bought it in a quart can and brushed it on. Looks like hell at first but drys and leaves the header a med gray color. Just another way to do them.

Jim
 
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