Sorry for the double post, i wasnt sure if this was tech worthy or not. I just bought hedman headers a few months ago and they got a nice fresh coat of rust on them. Anyone know how to resolve this? any kind of spray paint that could protect and prevent rust?
Depending on how badly they are rusted, you could use soem sand paper or a wire brush/wheel. You could also try going to an auto body shop and having them sand blast them , which would be the best. As far as coating , check out products from Eastwood or POR-15.
yeah i used sandpaper and a wire wheel thing in a drill on mine about a month ago and then I painted them w/ 3 coats of high temp aluminum color spray paint. I wanted a chrome color, but oh well I guess...
POR 15 is a rust preventer but they make a new line of product called POR 20 i believe and that is made for exhust manifords and high tempatures. they make three colors so you should check them out or go to a parts store and get the flame proof paint that they sell, car craft did a test on the paints and said they were good. Just make sure if your going with the flame proof paint to clean off the headers first really good
Headers get so hot their is virtually no paint that's gonna stand up over time, no matter how careful you are with application. The best stuff that you can apply seems to be from Eastwood Company - go to their site and look at their Stainless Paints for headers. The header MUST BE SANDBLASTED before application - wire brushes, sandpaper, etc. will not work well enough for the stuff to adhere. Once sandblasted, do not touch the bare metal with bare skin (i.e. your hand) as oils from your skin will cause the coating not to adhere. Always use a glove/rag, and wipe the header down with acetone and a clean, lint-free cloth before coating. Try to have them blasted on a day when it's clear, low humidity; paint them as quickly as you can after blasting - within hours. Any time that fresh blasted part sits -- well, it doesn't take much humidity in the air for the rusting process to begin. My experience with the Eastwood coatings is that even they will start showing rust through - sometimes 3 months, sometimes a year.
If you want to solve the rust issue, send your headers off and have them ceramic coated. Those are the only coatings tough enough to handle the thermal conditions a header has to live with. And, they make a great insulator - reducing the surface temp of the headers by several hundred degrees. Go to www.jet-hot.com for examples of what ceramic coatings look like. The pictures you see are just what the header will continue to look like for years. If you'd like to see pics of my stock headers 1 year after application of the Eastwood stuff, vs. the ceramic coating on a set of shorties, pm me with your email address and I'll shoot pics to you.