cleaning coated headers

G

gav'spurplez

New member
i bought coated long tube headers for my car in july. i do not drive my car in the rain too often and it has not seen a salty/snowy road. but it is a daily driver and does sit outside, ( now with winter here, under a cover )



so the headers are starting to get som surface rust and i clean them about once a month at work, when i can get the car on a lift.

the coating is not peeling or flaking, so i would like to keep them clean.



any suggestions on how to "protect them" ?? one guy said on an f-body board that he has used mothers never dull wipe pad.



i thought that might help or maybe a chrome polish even thought they are not chrome :nixweiss
 
Sadly, nothing short of jet-hot coating them will fight rust. I've tried everything and still have problems after a while (some only minor problems, but enough to bother me). Apparently your's are already coated so you may want to contact the manufacturer. I had jet-hot coated headers on my L98 f-body and they held up fine.
 
well i bought the flowtechs which are the "cheapier" header but they are supposed to have the same design as the hooker headers.



they were coated by the manufacturer :(
 
i guess i am going to have to save up for the stainless stell ones,



but that will not be for a while, trying to get other mods done :o
 
i had jet hot long tubes on my 01 trans am and it never got driven in the rain, but they still got some stains on them. i h ad a friend that had the same headers on his 98 trans am and it was daily driven and the coating came right off at the bottom of the collectors.



but to get the stains off mine, i used a green scotch brite pad and some mothers polish.
 
i still have to contact them,



trying to get their info since i went through a speed shop and they got the parts and all.



oh yeah, have not heard back from them either, bunch of hacks :nono
 
I have ceramic coated headers on my maonaro and after two years there is not a spot of rust. I know we are not exposed to the same extremes of weather here in Melborne as some parts of the US and Canda but its a daily driver and no problem. I would also agree it must have somethging to do with the quality of the coating.
 
ok, re-visiting this thread due to what i have stumbled upon.



i have not dirven the car 700 miles since november so it was 3 months and time for an oil change. i thought i would clean up the headers while i was under there. well i get the car up on a lift at work and low and behold, no more shiney coated headers, just alot of ugly brown/ orange stuff.



the botton of the collectors were covered in rust. i do not understand how this happened since i was not driving the car in snow and salt.



well, back to my original question. what can i clean them with ??



what type of rust cleaner will do a good job and should i use a wire brush or something ??



wish i had my digicam there, you guys would faint at the site of the pics :angry :sosad
 
Gav

It sounds as is you might be fighting a losing battle...

I had stock exhaust manifolds on my show car and nothing but ceramic coating held up and keeps the rust at bay. You can try a sponge like fine sanding pads to remove the rust - but - from what's already happened, it sounds like it will just come back. Honestly, they don't sound like they are "coated" with anything that prevents rust too well. Certainly not ceramic coating.



After removing the rust, you can try this..





Eastwood Silver High Temp



I used simliar stuff on my exhaust manifolds and it held up ok - for the Summer. After redoing them three years in a row, I pulled them and had them ceramic coated. If you don't want to buy new headers, try a local powder coating place - they might do ceramic coating. Obviously, you'll have the pull them off the motor. The Eastwood stuff might keep the rust at bay for a little while and you can mostly likley do them on the car with a foam brush..



Good Luck
 
is thats tuff available at a local store ??



i might have to see if i can locate somewhere, that would be a decent, "fix" :nixweiss :sosad
 
i was doing a search for rust removal products and found some stuff named chemprime



it is an earl's station product i think.



anyone heard of this or know if it iis available over the counter :rolleyes:



just hate to start ordering stuff from the net and have it be expensive and not work :sosad
 
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