I'm going to do a head swap pretty soon so I'll have access to my headers. They were coated when purchased but have become pretty rusty-looking.

Is it worth it to paint them with high temp paint, or will that melt off and rust away as the coating did? Are there any other options to clean-up these headers? Thanks.

 

sandblast and then paint with hi temp header paint
eastwood carries some good black hi temp an silver
ive used it before, still fades away, but doesnt flake off like the "coatings"
seem to last longer

 

Excellent! Thanks so much.

That's exactly what's happening, the coating is flaking off.

Will do on the header paint. I didn't know they made specifically header paint. I'll head over to the Eastwood site. Thanks again!

 

i used POR20 on a set of headers i put on my s10. I had to paint, let setup, bake in over, and then paint again. The paint maybe lasted 10minutes before it all flaked off. I have yet to find a decent looking header paint that lasts. from now i get my stuff ceramic coated.

 

That's disappointing. My JBAs were originally ceramic coated, but they flaked.

I think I'll give NemeSS's idea a try. I don't mind if they fade, I just hate when they get rusty looking. None of this sounds too promising though. Thanks.

 

Getting them completely blasted, especially between the tubes is crucial. They will want to flash rust real fast so paint them asap. I have good luck with PJ1 2300* high temp pipe paint (motorcycle stuff) It is thin, so multiple coats is necessary.
My Jet Hots flaked and rusted within 2 years. I sent them back and they recoated them to new again.

 

Thanks for the tips veee8!

I appreciate all the help gentlemen. Thanks!