[johnap68]

I am going to sand blast my headers and also my Torker intake to clean them up. I would like some personal favorites as far as paint coatings for each. I think I would like a semi gloss black on the headers. On the intake I am open to suggestions, I wanted to clear coat it to help keep it clean. I really don't want to polish it. I imagine both items need a high heat paint of some sort and I don't want the clear on the manifold to yellow. I have access to Dupont automotive coatings at work but I want to know what others have done and what did or didn't work. Thanks for any input.

[johnap68]

I am going to sand blast my headers and also my Torker intake to clean them up. I would like some personal favorites as far as paint coatings for each. I think I would like a semi gloss black on the headers. On the intake I am open to suggestions, I wanted to clear coat it to help keep it clean. I really don't want to polish it. I imagine both items need a high heat paint of some sort and I don't want the clear on the manifold to yellow. I have access to Dupont automotive coatings at work but I want to know what others have done and what did or didn't work. Thanks for any input.

[A.W.Dille]

Well as far as the headers VHT makes a good paint for them. As far as the intake I'm not sure as I have been thinking about doing the same thing to mine this winter and not sure what the results sould be just using a clear but if you have access to DuPont products you may want to consider using Imron clear as this seems to be resistant to most chemicals. Hope this helps and let me know what you come up with on the intake, because like I said I'm planning on blasting mine this winter.

[Blackfoot]

John you'd probably be better off sending your headers to Jet Hot Coatings. They'll sandblast and coat your headers. Have your intake glass bead blasted and have it powdercoated in clear. The intake will stand up to the heat.

I've got a babys brain and an old mans heart,..............

[TA_Thomas]

If you powder coat your intake you need to make very sure that you have all of the grease and oil out of the pores in the aluminum. If you don't it can volitalize after the powder coat is applied and will cause the pc to come off. I would use degreasers and then bake it for several hours before powder coating.

[gto_guy]

I also hear that Eastwood makes a good header or exhaust manifold paint

www.cardomain.com/id/gto_guy

[johnap68]

Thanks for the input. I just sandblasted the car and all the misc parts last weekend. The intake and headers look real nice. The rest of the car turned out nice too. Sure was a lot of work. Our Dupont rep stops in weekly and I'm going to ask him about the clearcoat for the intake. I have not made up my mind about the headers yet. I'm going to paint my Rally II's this weekend though and I can't wait.

[dragula81]

John,
Good luck with any "rattle-can" header paint. If you don't take some precautions, it's going to burn off very fast;

1. Use it LIGHTLY. No thick coats, only a couple of very thin coats.
2. Prep the h*ll out of the headers; NO rust, oil, factory paint, etc. can remain (you should be fine since you sandblasted them).
3. Don't install them on a new engine during the break-in. Use some old headers or just exhaust manifolds until the engine is broken in and then install the headers. A new engine has unusually high exhaust temps due to new friction, improper timing and carb adjustments.
4. Don't run your carb too lean. This causes high exhaust temps too.

I painted my intake with a "cast-iron" gray from NAPA and have used this stuff several times on aluminum intakes AND cast iron exhaust manifolds and it has NEVER burned off. It's not labeled as a "high heat" paint, but has worked good for me and it looks good too. Here it is on my new engine. (It's just resting on the engine in this pic. I was waiting on a new valley pan to come in.)

Drag

http://webpages.charter.net/dragula7

[johnap68]

Your intake and the rest of the motor look sharp.I like the look of the cast paint that you got from Napa. I'll go to my local store and pick some up. I had used some high temp header paint from Krylon on my wife's Camaro headers and it has held up well even thru break in ( and the headers were cherry red then, so red my wife was worried.) I would like a little more gloss out of the header paint though. Oh well, can't have it all.

[dragula81]

Thanks John. I just picked up another can of that cast iron paint today. The Napa part # is (MS)7250. If they don't have it in stock, that's what number they can order it by.

This paint will darken some on cast iron exhaust manifolds, but it won't burn off. The aluminum intakes I've painted with it have stayed the same color for years.

Drag

http://webpages.charter.net/dragula7