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failed header paint ?

I have used that eastwood stuff with mixed results. 1st time(Chevy V8) it was great, lasted about 2 yrs , 2nd time(VW) only lasted about 2 mos.:dunno:
The VHT stuff works ok as well
My $600 Edelbrock headers have lasted about 7 years so far without rusting.
 
Kain said:
well the local sandblaster is going to charge me 50 bucks to blast them and ill try again.
I will post results if my camera will work, the only part that sucks is its but cold outside.
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That seams really expensive to me. Its gonna take a pro sandblasting setup about 2mins to blast. I would think they would wait to do a run of smaller parts or throw them in with something bigger.

Honestly as ryoken said its jet hot or stainless ftw. Or oil them and wrap em.
 
I had flo tech Cheapos with auto zone header paint on them. No real prep work and the paint lasted for 4 years before I sold the truck
uta6uru3.jpg


Hard to see but they didn't look to bad and lasted for a long time


Or you can find a local dip guy and see what it cost,
ypuhana5.jpg
this was my corvette side pipe headers before and then after
pypeqa2u.jpg


400 bucks for just the headers not the pipes
 
the reason im painting them is i cant afford 325 the local guy wants and he don't work when its cold there is no heat in his shop.

there is one more place here in town i can ask but cant pony up the cash so I will give the paint from eastwood a try.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but ceramic coatings and the like while nice for looks, dont work if you scratch or chip them during the install. Which I have no idea how someone would install a set of headers on a truck without scratching or chipping them atleast once.
 
Stomis said:
Honestly as ryoken said its jet hot or stainless ftw. Or oil them and wrap em.
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Oil the headers? For what, mosquito control?

If they have to look good, you need the expensive coating. If you're just worried about rust-through, a thick-gauge set lasts many years.

I don't know why you don't see more stainless headers. You can get them for cars for like $200. Sure, it's crap stainless, but you would think for twice that somebody could get in the market.
 
I think the big reason you dont see cheap stainless headers all that often is crap stainless still rusts. Making it pointless to make, plus stainless regardless of grade is hard to work with and tears up tools.

And he means oil the headers THEN wrap them, so they probably wont ever rust.
 
the biggest issue with the cheaper ss headers is they have a super high rate of cracking... not that a crack can't be welded up, ss work is stoopid common in my line of work.. but, it's still a concern...

now ya spend 5, 600 or even the sweet ones pushing a grand? way way better and pretty bulletproof...
 
454Sub said:
I think the big reason you dont see cheap stainless headers all that often is crap stainless still rusts. Making it pointless to make, plus stainless regardless of grade is hard to work with and tears up tools.

And he means oil the headers THEN wrap them, so they probably wont ever rust.
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eh, wrap has a tendency to promote rust, not vice versa.. that's why it voids all header warranties, it traps moisture.....

never heard of the oiling, but I do remember the anti-seize article..
 
Blue85 said:
Oil the headers? For what, mosquito control?
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There is a process (ATF I think) of burning oil on steel and it keeps it from rusting. Believe in another thread I linked to a circle track magazine article about how to do it.

Since you can buy stainless headers for these trucks, if you plan to keep it, and have issues with rust, it's kind of a no-brainer in my opinion. Coatings can and will fail for whatever reason, I've seen it from Jet-hot to Hedman. How close to $700 do you get for a good coating on headers, factoring in the cost of the headers in the first place?

Yes, $700 is a fair bit of money for most of us. For never having to worry about rust, which has to be the number 1 reason headers fail, I think the choice would be pretty obvious. If you don't want to spend the money to keep rust at bay, stick with manifolds.
 
obviously we've dragged this way off topic from the original budget discussion...

I'd like to talk a bit more about wrap... I actually kind of like the way it looks.... and it certainly can help with performance and more importantly to me, underhood temps..

I guess depending on the environment add's/subtracts from durability... around here, the rust gets going on the edges, especially down at the collector, works it's way under the wrap.. than it really goes to town.. I had one friend who crushed a pipe by smacking it with a wrench after about 4 yr's.. I'm guessing they where cheap summit stuff..

but the reason I brought the wrap back up is I'd be curious if car headers could be coated with this really cool wrap I've seen used on marine exhaust... it's this black colored, epoxy-ish coated stuff... not sure what it's called....

let me see if I can find a pic here from one of my project boats..... ya can see it on this ss elbow.... sh*t's durable as he!!.. not sure what the application process involves... probably a wetted out mat/glass kinda deal till it dries..



HPIM1377.jpg





now I've only seen it over ss, so it might be a waste of time/money on a steel header obviously.. just an interesting side wrap thing I thought I'd bring up... probably be sick done to a $700, 800 pair of ss ones....
 
I don't think it's off-topic at all. You buy "cheap" headers, they are going to rust. If you don't want rust problems, you stick with manifolds or you pony up for stainless. As evidenced by the very first post in this thread, going "cheap" causes its own problems. For all I know, the hedmans at $700 will crack after two years. It's like racing "for cheap". Cheap just means you spend a bunch more time nickel and diming yourself to death.

The ATF "trick" is about as low buck as you can get as a step up from paint, but it seems like quite a bit of work to me.
 
Well I didn't buy the headers or exahust it was a christmas gift just trying to keep it looking desent for a while
 
yeah, I actually remember you posting that article now....

to be honest, unless I'm building something over the top (like my K5 :doah:), I usually don't worry about it.. DD'er, trail rig, etc, I just let em get rust.. like said, a reasonable quality set will give you decent service life, albeit ugly... :haha:
 
Kain said:
Well I didn't buy the headers or exahust it was a christmas gift just trying to keep it looking desent for a while
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you may fair better this time with a blasted surface... gives paint a good grip/etch... what did you "clean" the metal with last time?

if you ever need to degrease/wash down anything, metal, plastic, for coating, use denatured alcohol... it is THE one product that will guarantee to remove everything and not promote fisheye, etc...
 
Blue85 said:
Oil the headers? For what, mosquito control?

If they have to look good, you need the expensive coating. If you're just worried about rust-through, a thick-gauge set lasts many years.

I don't know why you don't see more stainless headers. You can get them for cars for like $200. Sure, it's crap stainless, but you would think for twice that somebody could get in the market.
Click to expand...

Oil under the wrap will prolong the life of them.
 
I had used denatured alcohol, this time I'm using a degreaser paint prep spray from eastwood

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2
 
when properly used, there's nothing better than denatured... better than any prep-sol, prep-wash, etc you can buy... they are just slower, "dirtier" cleaners.. denatured is pure, that's why it's better than acetone, l thinner, etc...

always make sure the surface is wet with any cleaner as you wipe it off.. if it's dry when the rag/towel hit's it, it's too late..
 
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