I was going to redo some manifolds with Eastwoods baked on paint. I see most show cars do the cast gray but I have an NOS manifold for my 64 that is black. So ? is were manifolds actually black and most guys ignore this and go with gray anyway? And does the flat mating surface get painted as well figuring the manifold gasket will seal or should it get masked off and not get this stuff on the facing? Thanks

 

All the new stock exhaust manifolds I ever saw were bare, cast iron gray. That's why I painted mine with high temp cast blast spray paint. That was 7 years ago and the exhaust manifolds still look pretty good. However, I only put about 300 miles/year on the car. It just stays local, goes out on Sunday drives or Saturday shows, and doesn't go out if the pavement is wet.

Randy C.

 

I would not paint the mating surface. If it is new and the head is clean and flat. I would not use a gasket either. Just iron to iron. I used POR manifold paint and brushed it on. After it is dry you can NOT tell it was brushed on and it holds up very well.

 

Thoughts on the black or gray issue?

 

Manifolds used on the line were bare cast. If you have ever seen a good set that were not pitted they have a dark gray appearance to them. Sandblasting removes this. I'm working on a manifold now that is that way with slight pitting and you can see the difference. I have a service NOS manifold that is painted black.

 

fwiw, I have always gone low tech and painted them with black VHT header paint. I haven't tried the Eastwood stuff. I sort of feel that any paint we use will look somewhat incorrect, and just letting bare cast iron rust will mean that soon they will be more weathered than showroom condition. I just gave up and went with the VHT.

 

I thought I would dredge up this older thread as I found it while searching, and someone else will, too. I acquired a really nice pair of manifolds for my Rallye, but sections that weren’t covered in dirt were rusted. They needed a coating. I found the Rustoleum, VHT, Duplicolor, and Eastwood products to be much brighter in color than what I saw in my original cast manifolds (note Hairy Olds’ statement above), so I used one as a model while I painted the other. What I found worked best for me was that a coating of the VHT cast iron topped with a dust coat of Rustoleum flat black seemed to do the trick. Stand back about 2 feet when shooting the dust coat, and apply gently. As they say, your mileage may vary. Here are my results:



Here are the products I used. I chose the Rustoleum flat black because the nozzle used applies the paint in a cone/round pattern, not a fan. This makes it easier to shoot from 2 feet back.






You can see the cast iron color paint on the bottom doesn’t match the natural cast color of the original on top





After dusting the cast iron painted manifold with flat black, it much more closely matches the original on top. The brownish/bronze coloring is slight surface rust.

 

Those look good.

I used the Rustoleum Hi Temp paint on my headers. I hope they last at least 6 months before oxidizing again.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Calyx. I think it's the best bet to keep manifolds and cast iron looking good. I'm not sure what the factory did to manifolds, brake master cylinders, etc.

https://www.eastwood.com/calyx-manif...ting-3-oz.html

 

Calyx is mentioned a few times in some of the other threads I found on this subject. The only difference is that Calyx is designed to be reapplied as needed and is not a traditional paint or coating - though it looks terrific.