Don''t clear coat them as they will turn yellow.
Was never a fan of BBK headers, but that rust and flash is expected as they were probably sitting around in a warehouse. After you clean it up I'd spray some VHT ceramic paint on those areas. I really prefer the FMS ceramic shorty headers as the quality is very good
I know that FMS shorties are the best (for shroties), but I had thought BBKs were a close second. I went with them because I thoughht they sealed well, at least better than the MACs I have. I didnt want to go ceramic coated because I dont think it is really neccessary for how I use the car. Honestly I am really disappointed in the BBKS and may even return them. I had flow tech headers on my old 5.0 and I never had a problem with them and they even looked better
So the wire brush would take off the ceramic coating down to aluminum again and then your polishing straight aluminum at that point?
I just tore down to block and resurfaced heads and put back together. I have older MAC headers as well. The bolts are a bit difficult to use but so far no leaks after putting them back on. I took a wire brush to them and repainted a few coats. Stuck em back on and I drove a couple days, went to re-torq the bolts and they didn't need it! Maybe I just got lucky.
I really like the look of those chrome bbk's. Keep us updated on what you do.
So the wire brush would take off the ceramic coating down to aluminum again and then your polishing straight aluminum at that point?
Well my first attempt at polishing came out, well pretty crappy. The intake was so pitted I would have had to start at a 40 grit to get everything even. At least the cobra plaque makes it look a little better.
The bad news is I have run out of time to work on it more. But the good news is my engine will be ready on Friday. More to come.
I think my impatience got the better of me. There is a harbor freight right down the road, but I have never been. I will have to check it out.It doesn't look bad in the pictures, but there has been more than one time when I had to start over from 60 grit. I attribute my times to being impatient. You need to make sure all of the pitting are out before going on to the next grit in sanding.
If you don't have one, go to Harbor Freight and pick up a cheap 7" buffing wheel and some red, green, and white buffing compounds. The red will cut fairly aggressive and may remove some of the pitting. Make sure you wear protective eyewear, an apron as the compound flies everywhere, and thick gloves as the pieces get hot. Get different wheels for each compound. I used a thicker wheel for the red and green and then a flapper thin wheel for the white final polishing rouge.
The next part that needs to get polished is my AC compressor- probably the biggest PITA part under the hood. I'm seriously thinking of just paying to have it done as the last one I did took over 10 hours to do.
Who measured the push rod length for you?Only thing it's missing is the right length pushrods. It's the only thing I didn't provide. I new I would probably need longer ones but obviously couldn't measure. They are on order from summit now. I will be back Wednesday to pick up a completed engine hopefully
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?