Exhaust header paint? Need inpu

So I have a used exhaust header coming for my MG Midget

I can't afford to have it ceramic coated like I want to, so I guess I will have to paint it.

Anyone have any input on what brand and type of header paint to buy? I'd like it if the paint stayed on it for more than one season...

DupliColor High Heat header paint. I used it on a rotary header and it didn't come off, even after it became an SCCA track car.

Stuff on the right.

Come on, swain is only gonna be like 250, and its totally worth it. The white lightning coating actually works and looks sexy as hell.

The paint wont do much for heat. Are you just trying to prevent rust?

In reply to Leafy:

$250 plus shipping is just a wee bit more than $8.99...

por15 exhaust manifold paint. put it on cast iron manifolds on a daily. still looked good 4 years later of daily driving when I sold em for headers.

With the paint, yeah trying to prevent rust. I hope I won't have to wrap it as I've read wrapping them makes rust inevitable.

I'm familiar with the DupliColor stuff- I used their engine paint on my engine.

Is the POR coating difficult to apply? I had a friend tell me it is a PITA to work with.

Leafy wrote: Come on, swain is only gonna be like 250, and its totally worth it. The white lightning coating actually works and looks sexy as hell. The paint wont do much for heat. Are you just trying to prevent rust?

If you paint first you can wrap and not care about rust, and wrapping has some nice upsides - lower engine bay heat, less flow resistance through increased heat retention.

And I've seen too many people get away with wrapping rusty headers for too long to think it's that much of a problem.

I've burned through a header in 2 years with wrap. Not worth the money.

I tried the Duplicolor header paint. Worked pretty well, but it did flake off on the hot spots. Still, overall it's a good option.

I tried a white ceramic, laid down by my local shop. It flaked off about as fast as the Duplicolor, but cost $300 instead of $10.

I keep header paint in my paint collection. I won't be going with ceramic or wrap again.

Very interesting!

Thanks for all the input guys!

GameboyRMH wrote: If you paint first you can wrap and not care about rust, and wrapping has some nice upsides - lower engine bay heat, less flow resistance through increased heat retention. And I've seen too many people get away with wrapping rusty headers for too long to think it's that much of a problem.

The high heat stuff does work, I have the barbeque black on my headers and it is still there two years later.

Keith Tanner wrote: I tried a white ceramic, laid down by my local shop. It flaked off about as fast as the Duplicolor, but cost $300 instead of $10.

Thats your problem. Your local shop charged your $300 to paint it with very nice paint with some ceramic beads in it. Theres only two companies in the states that will do a true ceramic to those of us that aren't making turbine blades and such things, one of them is swain, the other I can never remember the name located in california. The real ceramic you can hit with hammers without flaking and spend a good half hour on it with an angle grinder if you forgot to weld a tab to it.

In reply to Javelin:

+1 to that! I used it on my heat shield a couple months back just to make it a little prettier, and it's held up really great. Liked it so much, after I had my exhaust redone, I sprayed down the entire thing, as well as my valvecover. Valvecover got an extra coating of the BBQ black paint, though.

sorry, lighting/camera sucks.

Leafy wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: I tried a white ceramic, laid down by my local shop. It flaked off about as fast as the Duplicolor, but cost $300 instead of $10.

Thats your problem. Your local shop charged your $300 to paint it with very nice paint with some ceramic beads in it. Theres only two companies in the states that will do a true ceramic to those of us that aren't making turbine blades and such things, one of them is swain, the other I can never remember the name located in california. The real ceramic you can hit with hammers without flaking and spend a good half hour on it with an angle grinder if you forgot to weld a tab to it.

The shop does ceramic for us in other applications. It's applied like powdercoat. I don't know much more than that.

Regardless, I went back to the paint.

Ceramic coating is very dependent on the prep. Used parts require more diligence in the cleaning. That California company is Car Chemistry. I use their coatings with excellent results. My current race car(EP RX7) has the black satin coating good to over 1800 degrees and has held up well with no problems. I have been doing ceramic coatings since 1993 using Car Chemistry's products.

Another +1 on the Dupli-color paint.

Painted my old Virago's headers with it and after two years, only the front one showed some degradation, and only from road debris thrown from the front wheel.

Just follow the instructions diligently.

Sand blast it, smear on some anti seize, and bake on the car.

Sounds delicious

tr8todd wrote: Sand blast it, smear on some anti seize, and bake on the car.

I will give the Dupli-Color a shot then.

I'm surprised it comes so highly recommended- the only reason I bought their engine paint was it was all the NAPA had in the town where I lived.

fanfoy wrote: Another +1 on the Dupli-color paint. Painted my old Virago's headers with it and after two years, only the front one showed some degradation, and only from road debris thrown from the front wheel. Just follow the instructions diligently.

Or do I want to do the grill paint?!

I like the way that looks too.

Ugh, another decision to make

beans wrote: sorry, lighting/camera sucks.

i used the cheapest bbq grill paint they had at Wal Mart on the Hedman Hedders that were on my Nova... they faded a little bit as soon as they got heated up, but they still looked exactly the same after 3 summers of daily driving in all sorts of conditions as they did a minute after their first engine startup.. i was pretty dilligent about sanding down each tube, then used a couple of cans of brake cleaner to clean the metal... then i just blew it off with the air hose and put a light coat on each header, followed by a heavy coat about an hour later.. then they sat in my unheated (30 degrees or so) shop for about a month before the car finally got running again...