Most of the threads are old so, I wondered what the latest experience is on manifold coatings.
I would like a treatment that holds heat in the manifold and away from the painted louvers. So, has anyone coated the inside of the manifold with a heat blocking substance?
What has been the best glossy finish?
Has anyone tried the new manifolds from SNG that are ceramic inside and porcelain out?
TIA
If you take the time to sand the cast iron manifolds to a near shine, Jet Hot still seems to be the best coating available.
What he said ^^^
Adding… coat inside and out, consider clear ceramic on top outside.
I have SS (ClassicFabs) coated inside only. The place that did this for me regularly does Jag manifolds as above.
For Me ?
Tremclad 2000 black paint on sandblasted manifolds. It goes in black and when baked turns a gray colour. Looks nice and holds up well. Must be 4 or 5 years since I did it
Dennis 69 OTS
I used a chrome like ceramic coating called Ceracoat on mine. Still looks fabulous 2 years later. They took a lot of work to sand to a smooth finish first, but well worth it.
Wow! All that blingy silver and polished aluminum is gorgeous!
@JamesLove… they make it in pink…
https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerakote-coating/H-141/prison-pink
Ahaha love how they call it prison pink lol.
Which color from Cerakote did you paint them Alan or is that a clear?
james,
Is that glossy black in cerrakote?
It was done by a small local shop. Not sure what the colour was called but it is Matt Grey when it is baked and gets its shine after the polishing stage. http://eastcoastperformancecoatings.com.au/index.html
I probably could have done them in a clear coat as they looked fantastic in bare metal when I finished polishing the cast finish off them
I’d be surprised if there was any clear coat with any technology that wouldn’t yellow or go cloudy when subjected to the heat cycles of an exhaust manifold. Going with a color coat was wise IMHO. Certainly looks fantastic! I had been considering Cerakote for other applications.
Dave
Yes Bill. I got from Terrys. They are smooth and appear show quality. Though I have to say I love the silver/polished/chromed look!
no pis but metalsprayed with al and then high heat tremclad (not too thick) oven bake.
so you got the ceramic paint from terry’s and self applied? I looked all over the net and couldn’t find anyone doing shiny cerrakote.
So I ended up sending them to Jet Hot. Expensive.
Did you paint the insides too?
Will be interested to hear how they hold up. Hope they do for you.
Whilst not black, I used Eastwood’s Calyx manifold treatment on mine. Dead easy to apply (in situ) using a toothbrush and then just run the car engine up to normal temperature for 20 mins. The paste is graphite based so leaves the manifolds a pewter grey colour. Still better than either rusty or brown from when VHT paint discolours.
That really looks like a nice, easy and attractive solution if not going original. Is there prep involved?
Very little preparation needed. You can even apply it straight onto a rusty manifold surface (which they do on the Eastwood advert for Calyx). Mine weren’t rusty and I simply used brake cleaner on a microfibre towel just to remove any surface contaminants. If yours are very rusty, bead blasting first would be advisable.
It took about 30-40 minutes per manifold to apply using a mirror and torch to get to parts that were otherwise out of sight. An enjoyable job given the end result. I’ve enclosed a picture below of the job part way through so you can see the starting position my manifolds were in.
At the end of the day, I would really like a pair of shiny porcelain coated manifold covers but, here in the UK, the risk of being caught out in the rain and water coming through the bonnet louvres onto the rear manifold is high. I thought I would give Calyx a go as an interim measure for a few years by which stage there ought to be some feedback around on the “improved” manifolds that SNG Barratt are now selling
