Anyone Paint Headers ?
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,301
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
i've had the same headers on my car for over 30 years. the first few years i painted them wirh VHT but after driving them all summer and sitting in the garage all winter they would have rust on them every year. finally i took them to a company here local that was coating engine parts for NASCAR teams and had them put their thermal barrier coating on them. wasn't cheap - around $280.00 at the time but no rust ever since. 25 plus years. paints may be better now for all i know.
Just curious, Heaney Industries or Swaintech?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 781
Likes: 415
From: Western NY
Swaintech. i never heard of Heaney. just took the right header in this am to have a o2 bung welded on. now i will probably have to watch that area for rust where the coating had to be ground off to do the welding.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,301
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
Heaney Industries is the company that the Swain brothers worked at, in the mid 70s, before they went out on their own. I'm not sure if Heaney is still in business, but I had a set of headers "aluminized" by Swain, back in the mid 80s. They were on the car for about 10 years, and still in good shape, when I let the car go.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 7,439
Likes: 961
From: Tennessee/Rhode Island
Yes and my BBK Shorty headers on my mustang GT look exactly the same from the header manufacturers, neither works as well nor looks as good as the LTH in my picture in my earlier post, ceramic coated locally......
Old Pro Solo Guy
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 8,013
Likes: 4,367
From: Marlton NJ
Leigh that stuff looks great! Did you prime your headers when you used this exhaust paint?
"HOWEVER, THIS PRODUCT IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE ON STEEL OR ALUMINUM HEADERS UNLESS FIRST PRIMED WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE PRIMER ALSO AVAILABLE FROM BILL HIRSCH"
For probably $45 total for the paint and high temp primer, though, you can't beat the price, but it is just a paint, not a ceramic coating like mine and bucanner recommended.
"HOWEVER, THIS PRODUCT IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE ON STEEL OR ALUMINUM HEADERS UNLESS FIRST PRIMED WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE PRIMER ALSO AVAILABLE FROM BILL HIRSCH"
For probably $45 total for the paint and high temp primer, though, you can't beat the price, but it is just a paint, not a ceramic coating like mine and bucanner recommended.
But wouldn't the grey look wonderful on a cast iron exhaust manifold?
Last edited by leigh1322; Apr 29, 2020 at 10:52 AM.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,938
Likes: 173
From: hebron IL
C3 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
Wish I could polish them up somehow. I don't have a showcar but a nice cruise nite, ride.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 7,439
Likes: 961
From: Tennessee/Rhode Island
I use Cerakote C-7700 Glacier Silver on my headers and they look as good as the day I did them which was about 3-4 years ago, they do not discolor. These are old headers to boot. I sand blasted them first and If you have a spray gun, you can do it your self or just buy a cheap Harbor Freight gun and do it. I used about a half a bottle to do mine.14oz(ish) bottle. Make sure you prep them good. Cerakote is a tough coating and they also use it on firearms.
https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerako...glacier-silver
And this product ^^^^^^ looks very similar to the finish and coating on my XS Power headers in the website photos, I had coated locally. My guy sprayed it on and then did bake it for several hours in the ovens but for $35, this ceramic coating is a STEAL! Thanks for the tip......
Last edited by jb78L-82; Apr 30, 2020 at 06:25 AM.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 3,532
Likes: 1,185
From: Arizona - If you don’t know CFI, STOP proliferating the myths around it...
FWIW-I went to their website:
https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerako...glacier-silver
And this product ^^^^^^ looks very similar to the finish and coating on my XS Power headers in the website photos, I had coated locally. My guy sprayed it on and then did bake it for several hours in the ovens but for $35, this ceramic coating is a STEAL! Thanks for the tip......
https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerako...glacier-silver
And this product ^^^^^^ looks very similar to the finish and coating on my XS Power headers in the website photos, I had coated locally. My guy sprayed it on and then did bake it for several hours in the ovens but for $35, this ceramic coating is a STEAL! Thanks for the tip......
I searched a long time before settling for this product and it is pretty good and lots of info on their site about it along with other sites. This product also does an awesome job on firearms if you want custom colors.
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