Paint? or Not? Exhaust Manifolds

[bscottie]

got my exhaust manifolds back, had them sandblasted to get rid of the rusty outer shell they developed over the past 27 years, thinking about using some VHT high temp paint, anybody used it before? will it hold up for a while?

here they are looking new again

[arj]

I recently used the VHT high temp paint, on my Turbo Celica. I used the gray iron color on the manifold, downpipe, converter, and the exhaust side of the turbo. The heat shields got the aluminum color. I haven't driven the car since getting it back together, but I've had it up to temp several times.

The paint made a huge smoky mess when it was first heated up. But by the third time I ran the engine, the mess was over and the paint was well cured. There's no flaking or peeling, and the color looks great. It should work great on your manifolds.

[4wheeldevil]

those are small enough he may be able to use an oven to cure them?

i want to this to my long tubes when i am ready to clean them up
arj is it possible you got pics of the parts you did

[bscottie]

the shop I got the work done said if I heated the manifolds prior to paint it would help, was thinking about baking them at about 300 before painting, will see how they turn out

[arj]

Here it is, with a few things apart again. Regarding the use of an oven before or after painting, I don't think it's necessary. The parts should be warm when they get painted, just like when anything else gets painted. So an oven could take the chill off, if they're ice cold, but they don't need to be hot. And afterwards, an oven wouldn't get hot enough to cure the paint. So let the engine do the work... Just run it outdoors.

[bscottie]

thanks for the info!

[TuxStang]

Here some of us use Zebracier ... it's an old gran'ma silver paste made to give some pimp to iron stoves, old kitchens, etc ... usually last a bit longer than VHT paint on manifolds.

[86asccoupe20]

arj, that looks awesome.