>From: Steven Schultz <Steven.Schultz@mixcom.mixcom.com>
>Subject: High temperature paint
>
> ......... I would like to do something to
>the manifolds, but not sure what. Originally, they were porcelan, but
>that has chipped off,........
>....... a high temperature paint, at least 1400 degrees, ........
>
>From: <tobin@neagp.enet.dec.com>
>
> Heck- go for chrome!!!!! (^;
>
>Greg
>From: lupienj@hpwarq.wal.hp.com (John Lupien)
>Subject: re: High Temperature paint
>
>I posted a summary of the ceramic header coating product review from Hot VW's
>a while back, unfortunately I seem to have misplaced the file. Does anyone
>have a copy of it?
I assume that we are talking about exhaust manifolds here, so here goes...
In my early years (before british cars), I put lots of headers on lots
of engines (one or two mine, but mostly my buddies...). We never found
ANY paint that would stand up to the heat. As for chroming, it turns
colors, and will still rust out easily. Now for the solution (It's
probably what John is talking about):
When I was rebuilding the Elan, I managed to lay my hands on a brand
new set of factory tri-Y headers for the car. Since I'm trying to "Do
It Right" and make sure the car lasts a LONG time, I wanted to protect
the headers. Along came a friend with an article out of Hot Rod, all
about a company that puts a ceramic coating on car parts (headers,
intake manifolds, etc.). The coating is heat proof, self sealing
(scratches disappear), and smooth. When used on headers, it's
supposed to increase power in the engine by forcing higher velocities
in the pipes, since the energy cannot radiate out of the pipe. Note
that these are their claims, not mine! But the best claim was that
when you have them coat the inside and outside of the headers, they
are sealed, and should never rust (hopefully!).
So I shipped them my brand new genuine Lotus headers, and had them
apply the shiny silver coating inside and out. About $125 later, my
pipes came back, and although not quite as shiny as chrome, they do
look real good. As for their heat properties, when the engine is
running, the temperature in the area around the headers is about equal
to the rest of the engine compartment (even with the stock cast iron
manifold, it got VERY hot in that area). I scratched the headers up a
little when putting them in (real tight down there), but nothing that
went through to the metal, or even very deeply. No discoloration, no
heat, no rust... It was what I was looking for, even if it is a tad
expensive. One thing however. Although I had the car running, and was
about to get it smogged, I managed to burn out my coil, and ballast
resister (the current topic about dwell, coils, etc. has proved
interesting... ) while trying to start it one cold morning. The result
is, that I have only been able to put about 50 miles on the car "testing"
it, so I don't know how long the coating will last, but I do know that
any paint that I've used usually burnt off in just a few minutes, and
this stuff seems to be going strong...
Before any one asks, I don't remember the name of the place, but it
was something like "High Performance Coatings", maybe in Oklahoma some
place. I will look it up over the weekend, and post the address and
phone number.
Tim Mullen tmullen@thor.nafb.trw.com
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