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What to paint headers with

87BrnRsd

87BrnRsd

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I am going to be purchasing a set of headers soon that wont come from the factory with a ceramic coating. What kind of paint is good to coat them with that will keep them rust free for the longest possible amount of time? My brother used that hi-temp ceramic paint from autozone on his, but it burnt off rather quickly. /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif What works? Thanks.
-Harrison
 
ive had good luck with the black paint thats rated to 1500*. it lasted a few months. nothing is perminent not even ceramic coating.
 
Yepp, high temp BBQ/Stove paint...seems to work ok on mine, but there is some nice hardened clay on there that I know is gonna take paint off /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
nothing is perminent not even ceramic coating.

[/ QUOTE ]

I found that out. Paid a few hundred for my ceramic coated headers and lasted about a year or so and now there are stained with red clay and some fire extinguisher stuff.
 
Have you thought about just using some of that heat wrap instead? It will probably always look the same, and you get less heat under the hood, which is good for everything. /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 
one of my friends put that wrap onhis and they cracked bad, don't know if the wrap caused the crack or what, but he hasn't put any one it since and has not had a problem, soo /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

BTW same truck, same exhaust, same brand headers /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 
The dupli-color 1500* stuff works as good as VHT for me. Either way, you have to repaint them every so often. The lower parts seem to rust quicker for me, but they are easy to scratch up and hit with the rattle can without removing them.

I like the idea of the lifetime warranty ones from Autozone, though. Just spend $5 on a can of paint once a year when you replace them.
 
I used Krylon BBQ paint good for 1200*. Most of the paint baked off the next day... Try something with a temp range over 1500* if there is such a thing.
 
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I am going to look into the por-20, and also the krylon 1500 degree paint. If I happen to find a coating with an even higher rating than 1500 degrees, I will post it up to let evryone know about it. Thanks.
-Harrison
 
The trick, even with the 1500 degree paint, is to bake them in an oven before putting them on (follow the directions on the can). This doesn't make it permanent but makes a huge difference versus not baking.
Probably a good idea to buy the wife a day spa on the day you plan to bake. Gotta have a good size oven too.
 
You need to get the headers hot before you paint them to burn the factory paint of or sand them down to the metal then after that you can paint with some high temparature paint. If you paint over the factory paint your paint will burn off when the factory paint burns off.
 
Another thing to note is to use very thin coats and only do as many coats as needed for complete coverage. Laying it on thick doesn't last. If you can still sort of see raw metal under the first coat, that's about right.

Liked the VHT orange a friend put on the BBC headers on his '60 El Camino. They turned bright red when they got hot enough to burn you.
 
I stipped a set down to bare metal and powder coated the red. Now the powder burnt right off in about 30 seconds on the tubes but it stayed on the flange. The weird thing is the tubes never rusted. They looked like clean bare metal. I sold the truck about a year later and they still looked clean. /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif maybe the powder coat left something behind.

It was kinda funny and heartbraking at the same time to watch the powder coat curl up and fall off in big sheets. /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif
 
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