Painted exhaust headers?

[montmil]

My OE header pipes are tired looking and that's putting it mildly. I'd like to do 'em black to match the black LS-style mufflers on the bike. The Jet coating is very nice but just too pricey plus the completion time line is a bit long for my needs. So the question is:

Anyone have experience with rattle can, gunning or powder coating the header pipes? How did you prep the old chrome to insure paint adhesion? Service life, product used, details, etc?

Hook me up with the hot ticket. Thanks for any comments.     Monte

[samc]

I did a set of Ural headpipes with high temp black with scotchbrite prep; after they cooked a while they were fine They did need touchup from time to time

[steve hawkins]

Recently I finally gave up with my stainless steel headers(that came with the bike - the left hand header was cut to short where it entered the head - as a result it never sealed up correctly and sounded crap!). I ditched them for a pair of old OEM headers.  I used scotch-brite to key the old headers and balance tube and then used high temp matt black to spray them with.

It has to be said that by the time I got them fitted and all the bolts done up, I had scratched them pretty batddly.  But I was able to toch them up pretty well by using the paint can and a bit of cardboard to catch the overspray.  Looks pretty good and you can always touch em up when they get a bot grubby.

The other thing to consider is exhaust bandage for that home special/racer look.

Be wary of buying a new set as quality is everything - if they do not fit properly they ain't no good.

Steve h

[MrRiden]

Re-did my LS pipes with rattle can hi temp. Cleaned everything up meticulously and sprayed 'em twice per can instructions. I also let them cure in the hot desert sun for about 4 days before reassembly. So far so good. I used Dupli-Color hi heat but I understand that there is a brush on of high quality that SueCanada has used. I think the brand is http://www.por15.com/products.asp?dept=8
the chrome will have to go before painting I'm assuming,
rich

[Justin B.]

I used the following on the exhaust on the R65LS.  It looked fantastic "fresh" but turned more of a flat black after it aged.  There should be some pix on the forum some place...

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=731&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=390&iSubCat=394&iProductID=731

[montmil]

Dang! I even get the Eastwood catalogs and failed to check 'em for hi-temp paints. My bad. Spraying would be the way to go. I think the disposable foamie brushes would probably melt on my pipes.  

[awaffa2003]

forget paint! use header wrap!