rcrac3r

Anyone ever heard of using bbq paint on exhaust manifolds?

Octania

I'm going to say bad idea
Your best choices are, from what I hear:
1 natural rust
2 actual xst man paint
3 Cal-X as used by Corbette folks

rroth01

I DeBugged the whole Neighborhood with exhaust manifold paint.
Not a Mosquito for years..I wish the neighbors would move like the Bugs did.
Any Hoo Find someone the does Ceramic.Much nicer.

442dale

I have done my last 2 cars with Ceramic and you will be extremely happy if you choose this route. I am restoring a 1970 442 right now and will be going back to my guy for this car too.
I think I paid 220.00 last time and another 20.00 to do the bolts and washers. My guy was local so no shipping was involved.

Run to Rund

BBQ black isn't heat resistant enough. Use VHT header paint or equivalent.

ihengineer76

I have used the cast exhaust manifold paint from Eastwood and had good luck with it. It lasted 4 years on my Buick Skylark before I sold it.

rroth01

I used VHT Header Paint..Its the same stuff they used when they were choosing a Pope.Mostly the Dark Smoke..I think they also used it in a Couple of John Wayne Movies.Smoke Signals...Man not as Smart as Horse...Good Luck...

jag1886

I have used Thurmalox stove paint on exhaust systems for years this stuff works and stays good for ages, as long as everything is clean and rust free to begin with.

RALLYE KID

BBQ paint is the wrong color the manifolds are be to cast color and Eastwood has the best stuff. Eastwood manifold paint cast paint last for ever I'm more then happy with it.

Bunser

X2

(Woulda been happier if it woulda chased my neighbour away!)

frankr442

I used spray graphite last summer. Easy to apply, Inexpensive (Home Depot) and looks good to me. Had to touch up a couple of small spots, but easy to do. Not affected by heat. Will rub off on your hands a little while installing, wear gloves. I like the natural looking flat finish, though it is darker than bare cast iron.

66luvr

Calyx is a dressing, not paint. I have some, used it once, easy to use, and looks nice, but it never dries. If you touch the manifolds it will rub of onto you, like grease.
I used POR-15 black velvet on my manifolds. 5 years and still look new.

olds style

POR or Eastwood

76 Regency

I'm painting my manifolds with Bill Hirsch cast iron gray exhaust paint. I've heard good things but still in the process now so they're not on the car or tested yet. One manifold is painted and it looks super nice. Funny thing is, it's almost hard to paint because the color is so similar to the bare cast. Two coats and it looks great so I'm hoping it holds up as well as I'm hearing it will.

rcrac3r

Anyone know of something on the Canadian side of the border that i could use. I've heard paint spay cans can not be shipped up from the US. I would really like to get the manifolds painted before putting them on a freshly rebuilt gold 350.

76 Regency

OK so here's an update. As I mentioned above, I painted my (sandblasted) manifolds using Bill Hirsch exhaust paint. Mind you, I did this per the instructions and I'd say within only a few hours of running, the paint seems to have all but disappeared! They looked beautiful when I installed them and now that I've driven the car a bit, the color is gone and they just look like old manifolds already. I've literally driven the car maybe 200 miles so I'm not thrilled about this.

I'd like to call them to get their feedback on it before moving on to a different paint, etc.

I'd like to hear some more feedback from you guys as well.

waterzap

I tried high temp paint on manifolds once. Most of it went bye bye rather quickly.

Hairy Olds

I use #3 and it works very well. It's been about 10 years and the looked real good when I took them off.
I have pics of the manifolds when I took them off last year.
I'm not a corvette guy so don't tell them.

76 Regency

Can you please post the pics of your manifolds? Thanks!

Hairy Olds

I have no idea how to resize them in iPhoto. I an email them to you if you can resize and post.
Just pm your email address.

Olds64

I used the VHT Super Hot on the exhaust manifolds of my 64 98. It worked ok. I would be willing to use a different product if I were to go back to manifolds. Right now I'm running ceramic coated headers.

76 Regency

Here are Hairy Olds' pictures. First 2 pics are after 8 years of use! Last picture is a replacement manifold painted with the same product.

This is exactly what my manifolds looked like when I first painted them. They looked awesome but then it was gone in a matter of hours! Mind you, I hadn't installed them and run the car for quite some time after painting so it was well cured.

Thank you for these pics. I think this is the product to use!

John

Sampson

Seems any of these options produce a lot of smoke as it cures upon start up. My wife nixed the idea of using the oven to cure them. (VHT and POR both advise against this as well) so I took them outside and put them on the gas grill for about an hour on high. Smoked to high heaven but fully cured when installed and running on the car!

jag1886

I still vote for the stove paint, I have painted several exhaust systems with this stuff and it stays on (jugs and headers on my Harley painted 7 years ago and still look like new). Personally I don't paint manifolds they are suppose to be raw and if they get a little rust, that's the way they are suppose to look

brddg

I used vht hight temp exhaust on my manifolds and they looked like crap after only a few days of driving. I used the same paint on my headers on another car and they looked the same for years until some mods had the car running so lean the first 5 inches were glowing red. The headers look like garbage where they were glowing but still great everywhere else. Will pull and blast/repaint. But for the manifolds on my 442 I will be sending them to be coated. A friend did on his '60 vette and they look awesome long after they have been done and run