[giles]

Back to the subject of 455HOs....

Originally Posted by Transamric

Chris,...my method for keeping the exhaust port paint relatively healthy, is impossible to do on a together-in-a-car deal, but FWIW, here it is. After cleaning the bare heads, I glassbead the ports till they're spotless. Then a quick rinse off with laquer thinner. Then I dry spray, fog coats of VHT High Heat White header paint. Very dry,...very light coats. Usually 5 or 6, with about 1/2 hour in between each coat. Let them sit over night, at 70 degrees plus, & then shoot my favorite brand of engine paint. I have several cans of old obsolete TRW Service Line paint for the '69-70 Metallic Blue, & I use the expensive OEM paint for '71 & '72. My '69 350HO is the longest time use I've had using this process, & it still looks good, just a bit darkened.

I decided to reproduce Ric's process as much as possible with the engine in the car...
Since the non high temp paint recently burned off of the exhaust ports, the heads had no evidence of rust. I cleaned the areas with paint pre-cleaner, and painted the port areas with VHT 1500 degree light grey engine paint (FWIW the masking job was the biggest pain in the whole process) I then shot the areas with OEMs 71 Pontiac blue engine paint (ridiculously expenseive at $42 a can from Classic Industries) and it is a pretty good match. I have about 50-60 miles on it when this picture was taken and no evidence of any further burning.