I picked up a used RB dual of the old style - carbon steel body painted black. The paint was pretty well rusted on the pipes and forward half of the canister. I sanded it well, primered the rusty areas with that rust-to-primer stuff, and sprayed it with black Duplicolor engine paint, rated to 800F.

It's been 150miles and it's flaking off almost completely. I'd like to repaint it even though it's not visible.

Since then I noticed you can buy manifold paint with a higher temp rating - would that work? Is there a better prep that would work with this?

Dave

 

i think your set with that, post pics when your done.

 

Well I have pics of it before the paint peeled, so it won't look much different. Just black with shiny exhaust tips.

Dave

 

You don't want to use a primer - that's the weak link. I've got an ANCIENT Greddy cat-back on my car that had a sad looking finish. Went over it with a Scotchbrite pad, wiped down with a rag and some Prep-Sol, and painted it with high temp engine paint. It's held up great for a number of months now.

Dale

 

VHT 1500 degree exhaust manifold paint is what you want. I have painted our FC manifold with that over 1 year ago and it still looks like the day i painted it. So does my greddy single manifold on my FD. Very good stuff. And the black still looks black,. not a faded gray/charcoal that alot of paints fade to after a heat cycle or two.

And as Dale said NO primer. That is what is starting to bubble and peel. Then anything on TOP of that is coming off as well.

 

I would just polish it - not for the bling, but just to make it look nice and clean.

Lots of stuff gets burned onto my exhaust (dirt, oil, my car cover ), and the only way to keep it really clean is to polish it, or use a mild steel wool. If the cat back is painted, you can't really clean it.

 

^^ You can clean painted surfaces! how do you wash you car?
My entire engine is painted and it makes it soooooo easy to clean off. 100times easier than a stock metal finished engine. The grime just falls off when sprayed with water and cleaner.

Polishing requires even MORE attention to keep it looking good. The one thing besides the sound of my GT exhaust i don't like is having to clean the damn thing of all the road grime. If it were black, you would hardly notice it. And some orange blast or simple green works wonders on road grime on painted surfaces. The SG can streak in some places so use with caution. The polished look makes all the grime 10X more visible.

 

I will try that. For the record though, the rust was only spotty pitting, and I sanded it off of the bare metal. So at least 75% of the area had paint on bare metal. But the paint was probably inferior, and I didn't bother with the prep-sol. So this time I promise I'll do better

 

I was trying to make the point that when stuff gets burned onto your cat it becomes a bitch to clean without some sort of "scraping" device. Obviously it's easy if dirt gets on a cool painted surface .

 

I figure tar spots will blend into the semigloss black well enough. Maybe if the tar spots caught fire I could get extra bling out of it...

Dave

 

And my point is that i clean off painted exhausts all the time. I paint every motorcycle exhaust that comes thru my shop.( Because they are all coverd in rust from our lovely salt air enviorment) They all get flat black VHT. And they all get grime thrown up and burned on. I then take some orange blast and spray it on a COOL exhaust. Wipe it down with a rag and presto chango, back to no grime on the pipes!

If you are trying to clean anything while it is hot, you are not going to be happy. ( This is a no brainer to wait till it is cool)

Why would you be cleaning your can when it is red hot?

Dgeesman- Maybe if the tar spots caught fire I could get extra bling out of it...

That's one way to throw flames

 

I did the the same to the muffler on my polished RB single. Just the VHT and no primer. Has held up for 10K miles with no flaking or peeling.

The interesting thing to note is that I recently removed the paint so I could sell the exhaust. After lots of toluene, rubbing and a little polish the painted parts look brand new compared to the unpainted areas (which were also polished). The paint appears to have dissipated the heat better than the raw SS.

Gene

 

I'm never said clean it while it's red hot. Of course I wouldn't do that. I'm saying that WHEN it's hot **** gets burned onto it. And when it cools I have a very hard time cleaning it. That's all.

 

ahh i see your point now Glad you wouldn't try to clean things while hot. I took that from the post that your exhaust is burning your carcover, that you worked on that part of the car while it was still hot.

As for the tar and stuff, there are companies that make products specific for road grime removal. actually FLITZ metal polish works great for getting some light tar spots off of metal areas. Like the wheelwell areas etc.. Just a tip to make the cleaning easier. and you polish at the same time