Header Paint

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ramcharger

ramcharger

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Has anyone found a durable header paint? I'd really like to hear from the guys east of the Mississippi. If a header paint can last through two seasons of a salty eastern winter, it'll last 5 years in Colorado.
 
Ive tried VHT and Duplicolors paint, lasted all of about a day. I'm thinking the stuff eastwood sells would be your best bet. prep em like crazy, i think they have something you apply with a foam brush that holds up well on the manifolds
 
I've heard POR 15 as some that works good. I'm going to try it because I think I prepped my pretty good VHT came off.
 
I use Barbecue paint works great and holds up to the heat and last a long time...dries flat black...you can buy it at Kragan Auto Parts.
 
I had good luck with the Eastwood paint. Im lazy so I didnt prep the headers any more then a quicl scuff with some sand paper and wiping them down with what ever I could find. They looked good for about 3 years before the started to peel.
 
I used VHT flat black high heat paint. And it's still on even after driving in traffic numerous times. I firmly believe in prep. Yup I do. I bought the headers used from a guy in Florida. They were covered in surface scale rust. So I wiped them down with a scotchbrite pad and sprayed them. It seems the paint sticks better to a rough surface. On new headers I would almost suggest sandblasting them rough. O and I let them cure for a few days before starting it up.
 
I plan on sandblasting my headers in the alley (my neighbors are pretty cool) with a Craftsman sandblaster I bought for about $40. I've done a few other parts with it and they've turned out pretty well. It's the total loss style of sandblaster so I spread out a plastic tarp I got from the local surplus store and I can usually recover more than half of the blasting bead, screen it out and re-use it. Judging by your responses, I think I'll try the Eastwood stuff and see how that works out. Thank you for everyone's feedback! :thumblef:
 
I used header paint on my BBQ last year when I rebuilt it, why not use BBQ paint on my headers? :) I'll check out the local home supply store and see what they have. The Checker out here (Kragens equivalent) doesn't carry BBQ paint.
 
I used Krylon high heat aluminum paint after sandblasting the headers. It held up real well for a number of years. It only had a few spots that kind of bubbled. I think I might have gotten a little oil from my hand on those spots. But I think the secret is sandblasting and painting them right away.
 
I first sand blasted my new Hookers and made sure and didn't touch them and sprayed them with POR-15. Note: Por-15 recommended not wiping them with anything, just spraying them so that's exactly what I did. Installed them on my Cuda and fired it up. The crap stayed on about 15 minutes and flaked off. Man was I mad. I'm a church deacon so I don't cuss but I'll tell you if it weren't for that.............. Let's just say don't waste your time with POR-15. They make great stuff for doing your frame and suspension but it sure didn't work on headers worth squat and you all know how much fun R&R'ing headers is on a A-body with power steering. Took them back off and blasted them AGAIN and used VHT and installed them and not even a bubble yet after several hours of running in the garage and up and down the alley. The VHT cost alot less and seems to be alot better. A buddy of mine said he used BBQ paint with good results also.
 
I cleaned the factory black off a new set of headmens and painted them with VHT silver header paint. It started rusting through in less than a year.

Previously I took a rusty set of headers and cleaned the rust off with muriatic acid from the hardware store and painted with POR-20 silver header paint. This lasted almost 3 years before it started to rust through and a touch up would last another year. I highly recomend the POR-20.
 
I first sand blasted my new Hookers and made sure and didn't touch them and sprayed them with POR-15.
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I feel your pain fishy, but I just checked the POR-15 website and I don't believe that POR-15 is recommended for high-temp use. Did you actually use POR-20? POR-20 and Black Velvet (black POR-20) are high temp paints.
Previously I took a rusty set of headers and cleaned the rust off with muriatic acid from the hardware store and painted with POR-20 silver header paint.
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I remember using muratic acid back in the day to remove rust from motorcycle gas tanks, and it worked great. Has anyone used phosphoric acid to remove rust? I stopped by the local home supply store and asked about rust removal solutions and a apparently knowledgeable clerk (the only one over 20) in the paint dept. said that phoshoric acid leaves a "phosphorized" finish that paint will readily adhere to and is a better solution for frames, headers, suspension parts, etc. Either acid is about the same price. Beats the heck out of running the air compressor for an hour if the stuff works.
 
ramcharger said:
I feel your pain fishy, but I just checked the POR-15 website and I don't believe that POR-15 is recommended for high-temp use. Did you actually use POR-20? POR-20 and Black Velvet (black POR-20) are high temp paints. I remember using muratic acid back in the day to remove rust from motorcycle gas tanks, and it worked great. Has anyone used phosphoric acid to remove rust? I stopped by the local home supply store and asked about rust removal solutions and a apparently knowledgeable clerk (the only one over 20) in the paint dept. said that phoshoric acid leaves a "phosphorized" finish that paint will readily adhere to and is a better solution for frames, headers, suspension parts, etc. Either acid is about the same price. Beats the heck out of running the air compressor for an hour if the stuff works.
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Hi Ramcharger. Yes I did use Black Velvet Por-20 on my headers. My mistake calling it POR-15. I'm so used to using POR-15 for frame and suspension work I called the header paint that too. The correct high temp POR product name is POR-20. Thanks for the correction.
It's strange that others had such good luck with it and I had terrible luck with it. I did it EXACTLY as instructed being as careful as could be mainly because of the diffuculty of the R&R of these headers but it just didn't work at all for me. Makes me wonder if I didn't get a defectively mixed can of paint.
About using the acid to remove rust. I don't know my acids but I wonder if that is what comes with the Por products to netrualize the rust and etch the metal before painting it.
 
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