Make Headers look Good?

[Bob W.]

What do you guys do to make the stock headers look good. Getting ready to put the heads back on the car and the exhaust headers are all rusty looking

[Bruce B.]

Re: Make Headers look Good?

Bob,
I have used Eastwooh header paint on my 57 and it looks good for a year then it starts flaking.
I have tried others and they are no better.
Calax is a rub on treatment that you put on but it has to be repeated frequently and it rusts if it gets wet.
My 62 has a great coating on it which has been on over 22 years and it looks great. It was on the cast iron 2 1/2" manifolds when I got the car and it still looks great.
The problem is I don't know what it is.
Hopefully others can provide some more information.
Bruce B

[Alan D.]

Re: Make Headers look Good?

Use the POR15 system for headers. I did mine over 10 years ago and they still look great. Just be sure not to use the wife's oven to bake the headers after costing.

[Paul J.]

Re: Make Headers look Good?

Bob, if you're talking about exhaust manifolds, there are a couple of good discussions and suggestions in the archives. These talk about everything from graphite, to several different paints and their manufacturers. There are also some vendors listed, like Jerry MacNeish.

But if you are talking about headers, the only way that you'll get them to look good for a long time is to send them off and have a ceramic coating applied. There are many companies that do this, like Jet Hot and Nitroplate. There are powder coatings too, but I would stay away from these as they look to me like they would eventually flake off.

Paul

[Bill S.]

Re: Make Headers look Good?

Auto Enthusiast just had an article on just this subject. They used a product called Strike Plate. The article and pictures are here:

http://editions.amospublishing.com/AEW/default.aspx?d=20120928&pagenum=30

[Joe R.]

Re: Make Headers look Good?

Bob,

Paul mentioned Jerry MacNeish. He would get my vote. He puts a thin layer of aluminum on top of your cast iron exhaust manifolds. Then you spray paint them using paint he supplies. They look close to virgin cast iron, but never rust on the outside!

Joe

[John H.]

Re: Make Headers look Good?

Bob,

Paul mentioned Jerry MacNeish. He would get my vote. He puts a thin layer of aluminum on top of your cast iron exhaust manifolds. Then you spray paint them using paint he supplies. They look close to virgin cast iron, but never rust on the outside! Joe

Jerry did the exhaust manifolds on my '69 Z/28 twelve years ago - they still look great; the plasma-sprayed aluminum coating is only .005"-.008" thick, so it doesn't obscure the cast iron surface texture. Then you paint them with Seymour Hi-Temp Iron Cast-Blast for color, and you'll never see rust again.


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