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OK, well as I've got the car down for head and intake work I now can pay attention to making most everything look good. I know I can use products like POR15 or high temp paint on the cast manifolds, the question I have is shat to do on the heat shields that shroud the manifolds.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C4 of Year Winner (appearance mods) 2019
You could leave them off. I've seen polished/coated L98 manifolds that look incredible -- like headers. (Search for user Cuisinartvette and headers if you want to see pics of that. He had a shorty thread a few months back.)
Otherwise, clean/sand off rust and shoot with hi-temp color of your choice.
Last edited by GREGGPENN; May 15, 2009 at 02:19 AM.
Well header are not in the plan, I know they help performance but cost and stock fitting exhaust takes priority for me.
I looked at Cuisinarts threads but didn't see any photos of the refinished manifolds.
I figured leaving the shields off would be bad for under hood temps, but maybe I'm wrong? I agree if the manifolds were cleaned and then coated they would probably look way better under the hood than with the shields.
I used a quality ceramic hi-temp paint on mine (VHT), and baked them in my oven...I did about 3 medium coats between bakings, cool and serve. Still look like the day I did them. I kept the heat shields. Prepped with a wire brush on my bench grinder.
HOLY CRAP, they almost don't look like the same part! Maybe I'll go the route of good ceramic painting, with good prep, and lose the shields. I can also put the shields back on if it seems too hot!
I wonder it I could cure the paint a little like baking with a heat gun? I've got one, so maybe after the oats are set up I can "bake" them a bit to help he finish, I guess it wouldn't hurt.
I don't have any pics at the moment, I have since welded up the A.I.R. holes on them and have yet to touch them up, I think a heat gun would work great. Spray the paint on while they are hot.
No it's not all the same, I use I high silicon high heat powder on the manifolds. i think I still have a set that has been all welded up, but they haven't been powder coated. If your interested pm me, they are for sale.
HOLY CRAP, they almost don't look like the same part! Maybe I'll go the route of good ceramic painting, with good prep, and lose the shields. I can also put the shields back on if it seems too hot!
I wonder it I could cure the paint a little like baking with a heat gun? I've got one, so maybe after the oats are set up I can "bake" them a bit to help he finish, I guess it wouldn't hurt.
my friend bought some ceramic coated longtubes and I think if you prep your shorties good enough you can get the nearly chome look his headers came with by ceramic coating.
I like what I've seen here, but I think I'll go with a good ceramic heat paint and save a few dollars. I think if I prep well they will look much better without the heat shields. And I can do the shield to incase I change my mind and want those back on as well.
OK, not powder or ceramic coated but here is what I've got thus far.
Before
After
This is just the first coat of Duplicolor high heat ceramic aluminum paint. Now over to bake them in but I did heat them with a heat gun after painting for 30 minutes or so, trying to get them to cure as best I can. So far I'm good with the result.