tim72

Anybody used VHT header paint? I blasted and painted my headers today with VHT flat black. I have painted my headers four times now matching the number of rebuilds on my motor. lol!!! I must say the I used a can on each header and the job looks the best out of four try's.

toro455

Another great option is high-heat powder coating. It works especially good on cast iron exhaust manifolds. I can't say with the VHT because I've never used it on headers. VHT is a great spray can paint though. Do you have some after photo's of your headers, be interested to see the finished product....

joe_padavano

I have to say that I have never been able to get header paint to last more than a few days or so, even with very careful prep. The only coatings that have ever worked for me are aluminum spray (actually flame spraying molten aluminum onto the header), porcelain, and of course ceramic coat like HPC or Jet Hot.

ijasond

I used VHT on the exhaust manifolds for my 61 Suburban.
It was on there for about a year before I sold the truck and it still looked great.
I thoroughly sand blasted them first and they looked just as good as the intake manifold that I had professionally blasted and powder coated.

My442

No such thing as header paint.

Spend the money on ceramic coating. It will outlast the car.

I like HPC. My intake and exhaust manifolds look brand new after 5 years.

ijasond

VHT on the exhaust manifolds after about 3000 miles it still looked great.

joe_padavano

That's nice, but paint on cast iron manifolds performs differently than on thin wall headers, which are the topic of this thread.

Olds64

I've used VHT on exhaust manifolds with limited success. Of course, I think the VHT would work better if you could bake them in an industrial oven as per the instructions. I always used the alternative method by baking the paint on by running the manifolds on the engine for 20 minutes at 3000 rpm.

I would also use thermal or ceraimc coating instead of VHT. Especially if you have to pay someone money to bake them in an industrial oven after painting with VHT.

My Hedman Hedders have a themal coating on them and they are GREAT!

tim72

VHT does have a procedure for breaking them in on the car.

Olds64

Correct. I can only assume that the break in procedure on the car isn't ideal. Perhaps it would work better if they were baked in an industrial oven. I'm not sure because I've never done it that way before.

tim72

I agree but I do not know how my wife would react to using the oven for this purpose.

Olds64

I hear that.